■\ ^ >; ^ J r ■^ 






1-r^' 



■j>\«y-j» '."S 



'*\\> 



iUGGET 



ED0E0TE20D0 




SS3M9N03 JO AHVHflll 




|. VV. Marshall and Mrs. VVimmcr Testing Gold in Boiling Soap. 



California Gold Book 



FIRST ^^^^H NUGGET 




ITS DISCOVERY AND DISCOVERERS 



SOME OF THE 
RESULTS PROCEEDING THEREFROM 



BY 

W. W. ALLEN AND R. B. AVERY 



SAN FRANCISCO AND CHICAGO 

DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY 

Printers and Binders 

1893 






Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1893, by 

W. W. ALLEN AND R. B. AVERY, 

ill the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington D. C, 






INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Origin of Peter L. Wimmer - - ' - 11 

Boyhood of Peter L. Wimmer - - 15 

Adventure with Indians - - - 20 

Early Pioneer Customs ... 26 

Youth of Elizabeth Jane Wimmer - - 32 

Marriage of Jennie Wimmer - . - 37 

Wedding Trip to Missouri - - - 44 

Starting Across the Plains ... 50 

Trials of Immigrants - - - - 61 

James W. Marshall Discovers Gold - - 69 

Discovery of Gold in Australia ... 76 

Large Chunks of Gold ... - 84 

Del Norte County - - - - 103 

Siskiyou County - - - - 103 

Modoc County . . . - . 104 

Humboldt County ' - - - - 104a 

Trinity -County 7'- - - - 105 

Shasta County ..... 108 

Lassen County - . - - - - 110 

Tehama County - - - - 313 

Plumas County . . . . . 114 

Mendocino County - - - - 118 

Lake County . . . _ . 118 

Glenn County - - - - 119 

Butte County - - - 119 

Yuba County - - - - 121 

Sierra County . . . - . 125 

Colusa County . _ - - 128 

Sutter County - - - - 130 



it INDEX. 

Nevada County - . . . . 132 

Placer County .... 135 

El Dorado County - - - - 138 

Sonoma County - - - - 141 

Napa County - - ... 149 

Yolo County ----- 151 

Sacramento County - . . . 152 

Amador County .... 159 

Marin County ..... 160 

Solano County .... 164 

Contra Costa County .... 167 

Calaveras County .... 171 

Alpine County ..... 173 

San Mateo County - - - - 176 

Alameda County - - - - - 178 

San Francisco County - - - - 183 

''California Hundred" - - - - 190 

David Fitzgibbon ... . 191 

San Joaquin County - - • - 198 

Mono County .... 202 

Santa Clara County .... 204 

Stanislaus County - . . - 207 

Tuolumne County - ... 209 

Mariposa County - - . . 216 

Santa Cruz County . - . - 216 

Merced County - - - - 217 

Monterey County .... 218 

San Benito County - - - - 224 

Fresno County - ... 225 

Inyo County .... 227 

Tulare County - ... 228 

San Luis Obispo County - - - 233 

Kern County ... - - 238 

Santa Barbara County - - - 241 



INDEX, Hi 

Ventura County - - . . . 246 

Los Angeles County - " - - - 249 

San Bernardino County ... - 256 

Orange County . _ . . 261 

San Diego County . . . ^ 264 

Railroads - - - - - 275 

Theodore D. Judah - - - - 278 

Central Pacific R. R. Company - - 279 

North Pacific Coast R. R. - - - 293 

San Francisco and North Pacific R. R. - 293 

Collis R Huntington - - - - 294 

Mark Hopkins - - - - 297 

Charles Crocker - - - - 299 

Alban N. Townc - - - - 301 

Senator Leland Stanford - - - 304 

Leland Stanford Junior University - . 309 

Senator George Hearst . - - - 326 

Phoebe Apperson Hearst - - - 337 
Senator James G. Fair .... 345 

Hon. G. Wiley Wells - - 353 

Hon. A. T. Hatch - - " - - 356 

Clans Spreckels - - - - " 359 

John D. Spreckels - - ... 370 

Adolph B. Spreckels - - - 370 
Hotel del Coronado .... 374 

Henry Miller - . - . , 380 

Woman in Fruit Growing - - . 386 

Elise P. Buckhigham - - . 387 
T. Hugh Buckingham .... 391 

Sarah A. Bates - - - - . 391 

Harriet Barrows . , . . . 392 

Irrigation ..... 394 

Crocker-Huffman Land and Water Co. - - 397 

E. J. Baldwiu^s Irrigating System - - 401 



INDEX. iv 

II. A. Uuruh - - - - - 405 

Sweetwater Dam .... 406 

Eedlands - - - - - - 408 

Bear Valley Irrigation Co. - - - 410 

Irrigation in Fresno, Tulare and Kern counties 411 

Lake Ileiiiet Water Co. .... 414 

Asplialtum ..... 41(3 

Standard Asphalt Co. - - - - 421 

Press of California .... 424 

First Newspaper . . - ^ . 424 

First Daily Paper .... 425 

Morning Call - - . - - 426 

San Francisco Chronicle - - - 427 

Daily Examiner ..... 429 

Daily Demokrat .... 430 

Abend-Post - - - - - , 430 

Evening Bulletin .... 430 

Evening Post .... 430 

Evening Report ..... 431 

Journal of Commerce . . . . 431 

Mining and Scientific Press - - - 431 

Oakland Newspapers . - . . 433 

Pacific Coast Women^s Press Association 434 

Fireman's Fund Insurance Company - - 435 

W. J. Dutton ..... 436 

D. J. Staples - - - - - 437 



CONTENTS OF CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 



INTEODUCTOEY. 
Chapteu 

I — Eevolutionary Origin of a Pioneer. 
II — A Natural Adventurer. 
Ill — A Bloodless Victory. 
IV — Pining for the Indian War-whoop. 
V— Origin of the ''F. F. Vs.'' 
VI — " Lo ! the Bridegroom Cometh." 
VII — Across Fifteen Hundred Miles Behind Oxen. 
VIII— To the Setting Sun. 
IX — Road Building in the Mountains. 
X — James W. Marshall. 
XI—'' The Woman Whom Thou Gavest." 
XII— Gold. 
'XIII — Wonderful Progress in Forty-two Years 
XIV — Railroads. 

XV — Remarkable Men — What they have Accom 
plislied. 
XVI — Woman in Fruit Growing. 
XVII — Irrigation. 
XVIII — Asphaltum. 
XIX— The Press. 
XX — Fireman's Fund Insurance Company. 



Uo the /IDarvcIous iprooress ot Calif ornia an& 
tbc Brave an^ 1[n&u5triou5 Citizens wbose banM- 
work is shown tberciu, is tbe Califoniia GolD 
JBooli lRcperentialI\? H)cDicate& b\? 

Ubc Butbors, 



INTRODUCTORY. 



THE CALTFORNTA GOLD BOOK claims the atten- 
tion of the public for several reasons peculiarly 
its own. Up to date there has been no authorita- 
tive history of the discovery of gold in California, nor of 
those directly identified with that important event. Even 
in California different dat^s are given as the day when 
the first gold Avas picked up by .James W. Marshall. Sev- 
eral years ago the first lump of gold picked up by 
a white person in California, and to which all the suc- 
ceeding excitement and wonderful results must be 
credited, came into the possession of W. W. Allen, one of 
the authors of the California Gold Book. He spent time 
and money in proving the genuineness of the historical 
nugget, and the exact date upon which it was discovered. 
It had never been out of the possession of Mrs. Elizabeth 
•Jane Wimmer since it was given her a few days after its 
discovery by Marshall and tested by her. She and her 
husband made oath to its genuineness, and they were hon- 
est and reputable persons. It was twice shown to James 
W. Marshall by Mr. Allen, who indorsed its identity, the 
date of its discovery, and the other facts in regard to it 
detailed in this history. There were several other per- 
sons, now prominent business men of San Francisco, who 
had been shown the nugget when visiting Mrs. Wimmer 
and her husband at their home at Coloma, soon after the 
discovery was made, and while a wonderful interest 
attached to the " first find." Its peculiarities are indelli- 
bly impressed upon their minds. The identity of the 
famous lump of gold is therefore easily established without 
the aid of the following depositions: 

State of California, County of San Diego: 
Elizabeth Jane Wimmer, being duly sworn, deposes 
and says : I am the wife of Peter L. Wimmer. My hus- 
band and I went to Coloma, on the American river, Cali- 
fornia, in the year 1847. James W. Marshall lived with us. 
Wo went there to build a saw-millfor Gen. John A. Sutter. 



6 IN TROD UCTOR Y. 

In Jannary, 1848, Messrs. Wimmer and Marshall picked up 
a nugget of metal and Mr. Wimmer sent it to the house to 
me by our son, and I boiled it in a kettle of soap all day 
to test it and see if it was gold. It proved to be a nugget 
of gold. 

From that mining began. The nugget of gold now in 
the possession of W. W. Allen, of San Francisco, is the 
identical nugget thus tested by me in January, 1848, and I 
have preserved it ever since. 

Elizabeth Jane Wimmer. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 23d day of 
March, 1885. 

^^^^^ J. M. DODGE, 

"""" ) Clerk of the Superior Court, San Diego, 
Seal \ Cal. 

) By A. J. BEARD, 

~^ Deputy Clerk. 

State of California, San Diego County: 

Peter L. Wimmer, being duly sworn, on oath says: That 
he is the husband of Elizabeth Jane Wimmer; that they 
were employed in the 3'ear 1847 by James W. Marshall and 
General Sutter to work at building a saw-mill at Coloma, 
on the American river, in the State of California ; that 
they, in company with James W. Marshall, discovered the 
gold afterwards mined out at that place as follows, to- wit: 
Marshall and Wimmer were together and picked up the first 
nugget. Wimmer sent it to the house by his little boy with 
instructions to Mrs. Wimmer to test it, and she boiled it in a 
kettle of soap and tested it. Marshall afterward took it to 
Fort Sutter and had it tested with acids, and it proved to 
be gold. That the nugget now in the i:)ossession of W. W. 
Allen is the identical nugget thus discovered and tested 
by us, and has been preserved by Mrs, E. J. Wimmer as a 
relic of the great discovery, and is still her projierty. 

Peter L. AVimmer. 

Subscribed and sworn to, before me, this 18th day of 
April, 1885. 

A. J. Beard. 
Justice of the Peace of said county and State.'* 

The California Gold Book asserts that January 19, 
1848, was the date upon which the great discovery of gold 



IN TROD UC TORY. 7 

in Cali-fornia was made, because : First, for the reason 
that that was the date given by Peter L. and Elizabeth 
Jane Wimmer; and was tlie only date mentioned by James 
W. Marshall in the conversations W. W. Allen had with 
him in regard to this matter. If more testimony is needed 
it is supplied by the following autograph card which Mar- 
shall distributed among his friends and the curious: 

AUTOGRAPH OF 




OlC iLC'ER MILL 




THE DISCOVERER Of GOLD IN CALIFORNIA 



January 19th. 184^ 

The date upon which any past event occurred is not 
more clearly and reliably fixed. 

The sketches of James W. Marshall, Peter L. and Eliza- 
beth Jane Wimmer, are largely autobiographies, being 
compiled from statements made by these persons, and 
written down at the time, and the correctness of which, so 
far as the Wimmers are concerned, was verified by frequent 
repetitions. They deserve to be received as the biographies 
of honest and earnest pioneers. 

California contains more than one hundred and one 
million acres of land. Of this more than half is still 
owned by the United States. The greater part of that is 
hilly and much mountainous, but very much is adapted to 
the production of the finest qualities of fruits, grapes and 
nuts. Hence the pen photographs of all the counties in the 
State, which will be found essentially correct, and which will 
give homeseekers afair estimate of every part of California. 
The assertion is made, with anxiety to be absolutely correct, 
that " no mistake can be made whatever part of California 
is selected for a home." The "citrus belt" used to be 



8 INTR OD UC TOR V. 

located exclusively in southern California. Practical 
experiment has proved that it extends to the ** snow line," 
on tlie mountains, and that many kinds of fruits do best 
Avliere snow is not unknown. 

The mountains are yet rich in opportunities for the 
searcher after precious metals. Many promising fields are 
still unexplored. Silver mines are not deemed the most 
desirable property at this time, though more or less gold is 
generally found in combination with silver. When 
American law makers determine that the producer shall 
be given the same influence in fixing the value of the prod- 
uct of his courage and industry as the foreign broker; 
when the same rule is applied which took gold out of the 
list of speculative commodities, then will silver mining 
be again profitable, and coast prosperity will be unob- 
structed by the behests of foreign stock dealers. Resump- 
tion of specie payments was as easily accomplished in this 
country as was ever any human act when the Government 
decided that every public obligation could be satisfied with 
any description of national money. Silver will be enno- 
bled, and its value fixed in this country — which is as far as 
an American statesman need look — whenever the Govern- 
ment acts for the best interests of its own people without 
consulting the wishes of foreign purchasers of bullion. 

The authors of the California Gold Book believe the 
railroad as much of an educator as the public school, and 
as great a civilizer as any other instrumentality in use 
among men. It has given railroad enterprises only their 
appropriate prominence and only their proper credit. Less 
could not have been done and a claim upon the respect of 
its readers retained. The evidence is in its pages, empha- 
sized by the wonderful growth which has followed the 
introduction of railroad facilities in sections possessing no 
greater natural advantages than others that have retro- 
graded because lacking this convenience. The railroad 
will remain man's chief helper until some speedier means 
of transit and intercommunication has been discovered. 

It was the original intention of the authors of the Cali- 
fornia Gold Book to more extensively illustrate it. For 
this purpose a large number of photographs were obtained 
from the wonderful collection of coast scenes held bv 



IN TROD UC TOR Y. 9 

Tabor, of San Francisco. Only a few of these conld be 
used, but for them we give proper credit here. 

California is first in climatic and health and comfort giv- 
ing advantages; third in wealth; fourth as an importer of 
merchandise, and fifth in exportations. This among 
States that were aged before the first American settlement 
had been established within her bounds. She was given 
number "31 " in the roll of States only forty-two years 
ago. Situated beyond the mountains, and outside of lines 
of travel, she has overtaken and passed all but five of her 
prosperous sisters in every line distinguishing advance- 
ment, and in ten years more will be at the head of the 
class in everything but population and importations, and 
she will retain the place to which God has assigned her as 
the one State to which all eyes are turned in admiration and 
wonder. 

THE AUTHORS. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 



CHAPTER I. 

EEVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN OF A PIONEER. 

The Wimmers were originally a noted family in the 
north of Ireland, and so close to the Scotch border 
that they may well be termed " Scotch-Irish." From 
various causes large numbers of the brave and indepen- 
dent natives of that section were among the earliest 
emigrants to the JN'ew World. From the beginning of 
the eighteenth century until the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence the departures from Irish ports of natives of 
the north of Ireland and Scotland frequently reached 
the enormous number of more than ten thousand in a 
month. Comparatively, this was a larger number than 
now disembark at American ports from all the rest of 
the habitable globe. No wonder that the British 
authorities viewed with alarm the disappearance of 
such vast numbers of the men from among whom she 
had been in the habit of recruiting her armies. No 
wonder that every argument was used to stay the 
steady and increasing departure of emigrants. But the 
sturdy natives continued to land on these shores, and 
spread out to every part of the unexplored country. 
The careful and conscientious student will readily per- 
ceive the vital influence which these brave and indepen- 
dent pioneers have exercised upon the destinies of this 

country at every stage of its history. It might almost 

11 



12 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

be said that they and their descendants made its ^lory 
and greatness ; for, from the beginning until now, men 
of Scotch-Irish blood have been foremost leaders in 
every creditable achievement. 

It is now several years since Horace Greeley advised 
the young man to " go west," Ages before that the 
Creator had implanted in the hearts of the best and 
bravest of the human race a disposition to " move on " 
and " spy out the land " — to carry civilization and 
Christianity to the uttermost parts of the earth. It was 
this God-inspired disposition w4iich compelled Columbus 
to turn the prow of his small vessel toward the center 
of an unknown and ilHmitable sea, in the hope that he 
might find races of men to civilize, or new worlds to 
explore. It is this God-implanted craving for adventure 
and danger which has subdued the vast wilderness in 
America with startling celerity, and created churches 
and school-houses on almost every section of land of 
the entire continent. It is the universal disposition to 
" go west " which has made this, less than four hun- 
dred years after its discovery, the wealthiest, most 
enlightened and most powerful nation in the world — 
an educating example to all peoples who are ambitious 
to become respected, prosperous and happy. 

John Wimmer was born in Virginia about the year 
1750. "When w^ar was declared against Great Britain, 
it took him no time to select sides. He was a born 
patriot, and joined the ranks of the revolutionists, as 
did ninety-nine per cent of those of Scotch-Irish parent- 
age. John Wimmer possessed a fine constitution, 
great courage, an unassuming disposition, splendid 
intellectual qualities and coolness and self-possession 
which never deserted him under the most dangerous 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 13 

and trying circumstances. These characteristics ren- 
dered him invaluable as a scout and Indian fighter, 
and his services were in constant demand until victory 
was achieved by the patriot army. 

Some years after the close of the revolutionary war, 
John Wimmer removed to Ohio, finally settling at 
Cincinnati. Previous to this Marietta, on the Ohio 
river, had become an important trading post, having 
been settled by a colony from New England. The 
country away from the river was still subject to incur- 
sions from roving bands of depredating Indians. The 
experience obtained during the war of independence 
stood Wimmer in good stead during these times. One 
incident is related which shows the coolness and rare 
resources possessed by this man. Returning from the 
trading post in 1808 Wimmer was captured by a band 
of marauding Indians, and hurried off to their tempo- 
rary camp on the Ohio river, where he was kept an 
unwilling prisoner. He at once commenced to gain 
the confidence of the chief and his tribe b}' meeting 
them with smiles, and engaging cheerfully in any 
amusement or duty in which others were employed. 
His course seemed to impress the leading men with a 
sense of his great superiority, and they began to look 
upon his skill with arms, and his apparent contentment 
and undeviating good humor, as connecting him in 
some degree with the Great Spirit. The culmination 
came soon. One day, when sitting in front of the wig- 
wam of the chief, a large bald eagle made its appear- 
ance over the camp, circled about for awhile, and then 
sailed away. Next day, about the same hour, the huge 
bird again appeared, and commenced circling above 
the heads of the watching Indians. Wimmer knew 



14 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

that it had espied something of which it intended to 
make a meal, and that it would return again and again, 
until it succeeded in making the intended capture or 
was wounded and driven away. Providence had sup- 
plied him with the opportunity for which he had been 
praying, Wimmer arose, and with upturned eyes, and 
finger pointing to the circling eagle, in his usual calm, 
jBrm and impressive tones, thus addressed the awed 
Indians: 

" Does the mighty Chief and his proud braves see 
the Messenger from the Great Spirit ? Should he come 
again it would be to guide an enemy, and the Chief and 
all his braves would be destroyed. But the Great 
Spirit has provided you with a guardian. When I was 
brought here I realized that it was for your salvation. 
You have been uniformly kind to me, and I declare 
that that treacherous bird shall never pilot an enemy 
to this camp. The great Spirit has given me power to 
divine his intentions, and ho has also given me power 
to prevent his executing them. The Great Chief and 
his valiant braves, who have treated me so like a 
brother, shall have as a memento of that kindness, and 
as evidence that their conduct has saved them, the 
head of that cruel bird who would compass their 
destruction,-' 

The Indians were silent with superstitious fear. 
Wimmer seized his rifle, and with nerves of iron and 
unerring aim, fired at the slowly circling eagle. At 
the crack of the rifle, the huge bird began to whirl 
over and over in its rapid descent to the earth, and in 
a few moments fell lifeless almost at the feet of Wim- 
mer. The first effect was a glow of relief on the 
scared faces of the superstitious braves, to be instantly 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 15 

followed by a frenzy of excitement as they realized 
that the messenger of the waiting enemy was forever 
powerless for evil. So great was the effect upon the 
Indians, that John Wimmer was loaded with presents, 
and escorted in safety and honor to the post at Mari- 
etta. He never lost his influence with this powerful 
tribe, and was the successful arbitrator in all disputes 
arising between the Indians and settlers as long as he 
remained on the Ohio river. 

"When this country became engaged in war with 
England in 1812, John Wimmer again enlisted and 
served until the troops were disbanded at its close. 
His services were specially valuable in repelling the 
merciless hordes on the frontiers of Ohio and Indiana. 
Incursions by these savage allies of Christian England 
were very frequent, and the destruction they wrought 
terrible, until after the defeat of Tecumseh at Tippe- 
canoe by General Harrison in 1813. 

In 1824: John Wimmer removed to Henry county, 
Indiana, where the last years of his life were spent 
among neighbors who loved and respected him for 
the nobleness of his character, and honored him for 
the service he had rendered his country. 



CHAPTER II. 

A NATURAL ADVENTURER. 

Peter L. Wimmer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 
the 5th day of April, 1810, eight years after that State 
had been added to the sisterhood, and when Cincin- 
nati was comparatively a village outpost. He remained 
there until 1824, when his father removed to Henry 



16 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

count}^, Indiana, less than eight years after that State 
had been admitted into the Union. Peter L. Wimmer 
was not distinguished as a boy for love of books. He 
inherited the calm, self-possessed disposition of his 
father, and was an enthusiastic lover of nature. He 
never was excitable, and always hopeful of the future. 
The limited population, outside the village boundaries, 
made all the country appear like a wilderness, and 
young Wimmer would have played "truant" if there 
had been schools for him to attend, and would have 
spent most of his days on the banks of the musical 
brooks, dreaming of whence their sparkling waters 
came and whither they were tending ; or in the dense 
forest, studying woodcraft, and watching the gambols 
of the squirrels, or listening to the songs of birds. It 
was thus that most of his days werespent, after attend- 
ing to such duties about the cabin as were required of 
him. He was small of stature, but possessed of great 
strength for one of his weight, and always enjoyed 
perfect health. Under such management his mind 
matured faster than his body and the experience was 
fitting him for the future which destiny had prepared 
for him. When he was fourteen years old life in 
Cincinnati seemed too confined for his father, who was 
an involuntary pioneer, and it is not surprising that 
young Wimmer heartily seconded the proposition to 
invade the wilderness. Then the move was made to 
Indiana. More room was promised them. For four 
years the family remained united, respected and especi- 
ally happy and prosperous. Among their neighbors 
was the family of Capt. George W. Harlan, who was 
among the very first to cross the plams in 1846. The 
families were very intimate, and doubtless mainly 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 17 

because Capt. Harlan bad a daugbter Polly who was 
more beautiful in the eyes of Peter Wimmer than any- 
thing else which bad come from the band of the 
Creator. He was not slow in making Miss Polly under- 
stand the condition of bis heart, and was made happy 
by learning that the feeling was heartily reciprocated. 
As his life was without reproach and his disposition 
most kind and affectionate, the betrothal received the 
sanction of both families, and in the fall of 1828 Peter 
L. Wimmer and Polly Harlan were married, receiving 
the congratulations of every acquaintance in Henry 
county. 

Now, at this time, Peter L. Wimmer had just passed 
his eighteenth year. He was the head of a family, 
however, and considered it his duty to hew out his own 
destiny. To that end be immediately emigrated to 
Michigan, still a territory, and then more unsettled 
than either Indiana or Ohio. He retained his residence 
in Michigan less than three years, when he removed to 
Ilbnois and settled on the lUinois river, near where the 
Kankakee empties into it. The " Prairie State " was 
then almost a boundless, uninhabited plain. A fringe 
of timber bordered all the water courses, and nearly the 
entire balance of the State was treeless. A few adven- 
turous families from Virginia and Kentucky had even 
then settled along the water courses of the lower half 
of the State, but the prairie solitudes were broken only 
by the whirr of the wings of the startled quail or prairie 
chicken, or the howl of the wolf. Black hawk and his 
fierce and merciless braves still claimed the prairie 
country for a hunting ground, and the shelter of the 
beautiful groves as their own rightful camping place. 
They were frequently out on the warpath, their hands 



18 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

red with the blood of their victims, and their horse 
trappings decorated with the scalps of murdered 
settlers. These were not all mere rumors. Too well 
the pioneer knew that the tales were based upon 
terrible blood-curdling tragedies, and that the horrid 
fate was one which might confront him and his loved 
ones. Scarcely a day went by that some passer did 
not tell of emigrant trains attacked-with a loss of one 
or more of their members. These tales of cruel massa- 
cres could not fail to terrify every settler on the fron- 
tier, but they seemed to discompose Peter L. Wimmer 
less than any of his neighbors. All day long he would 
perform labor in his fields as faithfully and unconcerned 
as though he were surrounded by ail the protecting 
influences of the highest civilization. He had sought 
the frontier advisedJy, and knowing thoroughly every 
form of danger that would threaten his peace. He was 
determined not to lay aside his duty whatever might 
betide. His evenings were spent in his little cabin 
with wife and children. He possessed a fine voice and 
a splendid ear for music. With a retentive memory, 
his repertoire of domestic songs and pleasing tunes was 
unusually extensive. Till bed-time he could make the 
home circle as happy and contented as though there 
were not a barbarous Indian anywhere between the 
distant seas. So the evenings were rendered ten-fold 
dearer by the cheerful notes of Peter, as he sung hymns 
and love ditties to Polly and the children, and it 
mattered not how often they may have heard them, 
they were always as heartily applauded as if they 
were brand new. 

Thus lived Peter and Polly Wimmer from 1831 to 
1836. The latch-string of their cabin door was always 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 19 

in easy reach of the weary wayfarer and a warm welcome 
was given to the traveler, no matter whence he came. 
The sterling characteristics of Wimmer fitted him for 
leader, and to that place he was pushed by the unan- 
imous voice of every one engaged with him in any 
enterprise, whether of danger or for the amusement and 
improvement of his fellow pioneers. The home on the 
Illinois river had prospered, and a considerable com- 
munity had settled in the vicinity of the Wimmer 
homestead. They were courageous, as successful pioneers 
must of necessity be. All were hopeful, and the realities 
in regard to that now populous section have not much 
surpassed the prophecies of every one of the early 
settlers. They knew that progress was inevitable, and 
that eventually the prairies must become as thickly 
populated as any State in the East, or any place in the 
old world. Still the coming of increasing numbers of 
home hunters was the signal for most of the first set- 
tlers to " move on," and they struck out for a section 
containing more room. They were not as greedy for 
riches as for adventure, and followed on toward the 
setting sun. It is doubtful whether any of the early 
settlers dreamed of the possibilities which attended 
the growth of Chicago, or the great prosperity which 
would be achieved by those who remained in the State. 
Nevertheless, they did know that the lands west of 
them would be claimed by some one at an early date 
and that it was honorable to be esteemed a hardy 
pioneer. So the stay in a new settlement was seldom 
more than a halt, and the restless and expectant fever 
kept their faces turned toward the west. 



20 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

CHAPTER III. 

A BLOODLESS VICTORY. 

The equable temper, kindness of heart, upright con- 
scientiousness, moral characteristics, great personal 
courage and absolute self-possession, of Peter L. Wim- 
mer exactly fitted him for a safe and conservative leader. 
These qualities more than neutralized his lack of ''book- 
learning." In fact, book-learning was at a discount on 
the frontiers. The languages in use \yere the English, 
pretty well dove-tailed with provincialisms, and the 
Indian dialect. A knowledge of these were vitally 
necessary, and Wiramer possessed the gift of quickly 
picking up an understanding of the Indian talk, as well 
as a very thorough knowledge of his intentions, which 
almost seemed to be intuitive. But throughout his 
entire life, the great abhorrence in which Wimraerheld 
any degree of cruelty caused him to reach results by 
strategy, rather than by open warfare. !N"evertheless, 
he was always prepared for the latter should peaceful 
measures fail. 

In ] 832 the Indians on the Kankakee river were in 
a very discontented state. They seemed to have for- 
gotten the decisive defeats sustained in their battles 
with the forces under Gen. Harrison a few years before, 
and on every occasion they protested against the inva- 
sion of their prairie hunting grounds by the whites. 
Incursions against the settlers were frequent, and the 
losses of horses and cattle an every day occurrence. 
Sometimes an unguarded settler was killed, and his 
mutilated body left where it fell. These occurrences 
terrorized the pioneers without inclining them to re- 







v,..-fr ^; 
■|iiil 



t> 






W ■ 



V^/f 






ivS 



m& .. 



i ^. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 21 

treat. They had come to stay, and felt sure they were 
but the advance guard of a vast population-. 

In the early fall of 1832, signs which were startlingly 
significant to Wimmer, convinced him that the savages 
were preparing for a general massacre of the settlers 
on the Illinois river. The disappearance of grazing 
stock was more frequent. Small bands of strange In- 
dians were seen in the vicinity of the settlements. 
Canoes, with two or three red men to each, were known 
to pass down the Kankakee into the Illinois river. 
Those Indians met by white men were surly and in- 
solent. It was learned that a camp was forming on 
the river bank just below the mouth of the Kankakee, 
and but a few miles from the Wimmer cabin. At that 
time the settlement contained over a dozen families, 
besides Peter, Polly and their four children. It was 
determined by the white men in council that something 
must be done at once, and Wimmer recommended that 
the Indians be met and decisively conquered before 
great numbers had time to assemble at what appeared 
to be a preconcerted rendezvous. Ten brave men an- 
nounced their readiness to follow Wimmer in defense of 
their wives and little ones. It was settled that all the 
women and children should be left at Wimmer's cabin, 
and the men, properly armed, should descend the river 
in large canoes, and capture the camp of the Indians 
during the night. This plan was carried into effect 
Each of the eleven men was armed with a reliable gun. 
and knife, with the effective use of which every one 
was familiar, and three or four of the party were also 
provided with the old-time cavalry or horse pistol. 

It was a clear night in September, 1832, when Wim- 
toer and his small command got ready for their cam- 



22 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

paign against merciless savages. Their boats were 
prepared, and all the members of the settlement were 
assembled to see them embark. Only those who have 
been through such scenes can form any idea of the 
fear and solicitude with which the wives gave the 
parting kiss to their husbands, or the earnestness of 
the prayers which ascended to heaven for their safe 
return. No one dared hope that all would come back 
alive and un wounded. Each wife feared that she 
might be doomed to widowhood. And the prayers 
and tears continued all that night through. 

Finally the men were off. They proposed to reach 
the Indian camp at the hour when it was known they 
were in the embrace of deepest sleep — about three 
o'clock in the morning. As the speed of the current 
would take them to the point they wished to reach 
previous to that time, there was no need to use the 
paddles except to guide the course of the canoes, and 
the passage was as silent as the grave. Occasionally 
the passing canoes would be scented or espied by some 
deer that had come to the river to drink, and it would 
bound away in affright. A few times slumbering birds 
were scared from their perch. Besides these insignifi- 
cant noises, there was nothing to disturb a stillness 
which could be felt by every one of the crew. All the 
discussion that was necessary had already taken place. 
Every man knew that failure meant a horrible death 
to the loved ones whose hope was in their strong arms 
and brave hearts. The vital necessity for success had 
braced every heart to its utmost tension. 

Arrived at the mouth of the Kankakee, the canoes 
were silently guided to the bank. Hidden under the 
overhanging limbs four Indian canoes were found. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOR'. 23 

As these would nob carry more than three each, the 
party could very correctly estimate the number of 
savages they would have to overcome, the squaws hav- 
ing gone to the rendezvous by land. There could not 
be more than twelve, and possibly only eight. The 
first move was to cut loose the canoes, and push them 
out into the current of the Illinois river, then to 
secure their own canoes so that they could be used for 
crossing the river should retreat become necessary. 
Now for the attack. As soon as the top of the bank 
was reached, the silent party discovered the smolder- 
ing embers of the Indian camp-fire not more than a 
hundred yards away. The braves had selected a slight 
depression or little cove, for their camping place. Post- 
ing his men where they would command the camp, 
Wimmer went forward to reconnoiter. This was a 
most perilous duty, because it was scarcely possible 
that the invariable guard would not be found awake 
and alert. Crawling forward as noiselessly as any 
snake or savage, he soon discovered that eight soundly 
sleeping Indians, painted as if for war, laid alongside 
of the camp-fire, and the guard had succumbed to the 
somnolent influences of the silent night, and unsus- 
picious of danger, was sleeping as soundly as any of 
those he was trusted to protect. It took Wimmer but 
a few moments to collect all the arms the braves had 
placed within easy reach when they lay down to rest. 
Loaded with these he crawled buck to his anxious com- 
rades, and advised them of the number and condition 
of those they had to contend with. The arms he had 
brought were safely hidden away, and then all returned 
to the camp-fire, where a struggle was anticipated 
which was not without great danger, even though the 
stalwart braves were disarmed. 



24 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

But, in the meantime, the active mind of Wimraer 
had conceived a plan for terrorizing the braves which 
is without parallel in all history. He directed his men 
to crawl to positions where they would completely sur- 
round the sleeping braves ; to have their weapons in 
readiness, but not to fire on an Indian until he gave the 
command. Then he crept to the position he desired, 
and laying his gun on his lap, in a steady voice, com- 
menced singing : 

"Heaven's delight is human kindness 
To the traveler on his weary v?ay," etc. 

The first notes aroused the savages as completely as 
would the firing of a park of artillery, and every Indian 
grabbed for the weapon he was sure was in reach of his 
hand. Their consternation was beyond description at 
finding their weapons gone, and themselves at the 
mercy of an armed band of resolute men, and the ones, 
too, whom they had done so much to injure in the recent 
past. But what made their flesh creep with supersti- 
tious horror was the placid and unconcerned demeanor 
of Wimmer, who continued his song. The Indians 
stood paralyzed. When Wimmer had concluded his 
concert, he motioned the awed audience to be seated, 
and they obeyed without a dissenting gesture. Then 
he recounted to them the helpless condition they were 
in, and claimed that it was b}'^ the consent, and with the 
assistance of the Great Spirit. He told them of the 
depredations they had been committing — thefts and 
murders — upon a people who desired to live in peace 
with them, and do them good. These outrages must 
stop. The settlers would no longer put up with theft 
and murder. If the chief would now agree to return 
the stolen stock ; to commit no more depredations, and 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 25 

to assist the settlers should other roving bands threaten 
them with attack, then peace would then and there be 
agreed upon, and the arras and canoes would be returned 
to them, and they would be suffered to depart in peace. 
The squaws, encamped only a hundred yards distant, 
had been awakened, and commenced a horrible howling 
when they found their husbands prisoners in the hands 
of armed white men. The chief soon silenced these, 
and without hesitation agreed to every suggestion made 
by Peter. The great pipe was lighted, and after one 
whiff the chief passed it on to Peter, and from him it 
went the rounds of every one of the contracting parties. 
The inspiration which had come to Peter had enabled 
him to obtain a bloodless victory over a dangerous band 
of Indians, and to prove to them that he believed other 
Indians than dead Indians could be good Indians. 
After peace was ratified, the canoes, which had floated 
but a short distance, were brought back, and, with the 
arms, were returned to the Indians. The chief asked 
the privilege of escorting the " great singer " and his 
men back to the settlement, and the return soon com- 
menced. 

Wimmer and the chief were seated in one of the 
Indian canoes, and took the advance. All the others 
followed. All night long the anxious watchers at the 
settlement had kept up their supplications, making fre- 
quent trips to the bank of the river, and peering away 
into the darkness in the direction their protectors had 
gone. At daylight all assembled on the bank and 
watched and waited. Sometime after sun up, Polly 
saw a strange canoe turn a bend in the river, and that 
a painted warrior occupied it with her husband. The 
worst was feared, and a wail went up when they felt 



26 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

certain that those of their husbands not killed were 
returning as prisoners of the savages, who, they felt 
sure, would proceed to massacre them all. Peter 
signaled that all was well, and the reaction upon the 
wrought-up wives and children was almost painful. 
But when all had arrived at the landing, and the results 
of the trip were made known, the shouting and rejoic- 
ing was never surpassed by the same number in the 
great State of Illinois since its first settlement. And 
it is a fact that the people of this settlement were 
never more disturbed by hostile Indians. Peter and 
Polly remained here in peace and security, and much 
beloved, until 1836, when they removed to Missouri, 
as they had been urged to do by Captain llai-lan 



CHAPTER IV. 

PINING FOR THE INDIAN WAE-WHOOP. 

Captain George W. Harlan, whose ancestor came to 
Pennsylvania with, and as a friend of Sir William 
Penn, commanded a company during the later years of 
the terrible Indian wars on the Western frontiers. He 
did gallant service in the army commanded by General 
William Henry Harrison. Indeed, his whole life had 
been spent in fighting Indians, until the close of active 
hostilities with England in 1812-13, lost him his occu- 
pation. With the conclusion of peace he settled with 
his family in Ilenr}' county, Indiana, and for several 
years his relations and friends hoped his days would 
be spent there. But in a few years the Indian and 
butfalo had departed for the wilds of the West, put- 
ting the Mississippi and Missouri rivers between 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 27 

them and civilization, and bear, elk, deer and 
other game was becoming exceedingly scarce com- 
pared with the vast numbers in the country when 
he first took up his abode in it. In fact, after 1832 he 
never was thrilled by a war-whoop, and in a whole 
year not half a dozen strolling braves would be near 
his home. He began to suffer with depressing loneli- 
ness, and to pine for the dangerous and exciting adven- 
tures which had given such stimulating zest to his 
earlier manhood. 

About this time news came from some old acquaint- 
ances who had made the commencement of a settle- 
ment just west of the Missouri river, and where the 
city of Lexington now is. They told of a genial climate, 
boundless pastures, treeless plains, the most fertile soil, 
excellent water, and just as much room for spreading 
out as the most ambitious pioneer could reasonably 
desire. The fair picture captured the fancy of Captain 
Harlan, and he commenced preparations for changing 
his abode, undeterred, but rather incited thereto, by 
the known and unknown dangers and obstacles he was 
told must be encountered on the long and toilsome 
journey. The facilities for communication with his 
daughter Polly, since her removal to Michigan, had 
been of the worst. A letter to or from her was a 
rarity. Yet he managed to acquaint Peter Wimmer 
with his intention to remove to Missouri, and to urge 
him and Polly to join him there. Needless to say Polly 
frantically favored the reunion. The unchangeable affec- 
tion existing between members of pioneer families has 
been remarked by everv one as especially emphasizing 
the truism that " blood is thicker than water." Wim- 
mer sold his homestead and journeyed west, arriving 



28 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

at the Missouri settlement almost simultaneously with 
his father-in-law, Captain Harlan. This was in 1837, 
and, as nearly all the land was subject to entry, he 
was not long in selecting a promising homestead, and 
it was done with the feeling paramount that, please 
God, here he would end his days. That " man proposes 
and God disposes" was as true then as it is now and 
ever has been. 

A fact strikingly apparent to every one acquainted 
with the early settlement of this country was the pos- 
session by every pioneer of two supreme governing 
sentiments — love of country and belief in God. In de- 
fense of these all were ready to yield up everything. 
life included. They may have been illiterate, but all 
acknowledged the greatness and goodness of Jehovah 
— God everywhere. Not one in one thousand of those 
who laid the foundations of these mighty States, who 
fashioned the giants of the forest into hospitable 
homes, ever doubted the illimitable power of God, or 
questioned the absolute dependence of every living 
soul upon His omnipotent decrees. A detail of the 
customs of one pioneer settlement will fairly describe 
the course pursued by the builders of every new com- 
munity between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. All 
made haste to bend the reverent knee in earnest sup- 
plication and thankfulness to the King of kings. 

From the nature of things it was impossible for a 
handful of unsheltered settlers to at once erect a house 
of worship ; but with one mind, male and female, thev 
began a search for the most beautiful and picturesque 
spot in the neighborhood, and always convenient to a 
spring or stream of pure water. There rough seats 
were provided and an arbor erected, under which they 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 29 

might join in praise and devotion when the weather 
was mild. They were not bigoted or sectarian. Every 
one was granted the widest latitude, and a visiting 
minister of the Gospel was heartily welcomed by all 
without inquiry as to his denominational predilections. 
When the weather was bad, should a preacher come 
into the settlement, some pioneer's cabin became a 
temporary church. Many eloquent and comforting 
sermons have we heard preached in the cramped limits 
of a frontier cabin, and every hearer honestly believed 
that " where two or three were gathered together in 
His name, there would He be in their midst," and 
with the same willingness and power to bless as though 
they were in the grandest temple ever erected in His 
honor. 

We cannot doubt that God has directed and con- 
trolled the destinies of this favored land ever since 
Columbus discovered the soil. He has guided and 
prospered the people — a veritable protecting " cloud 
by day and pillar of fire by night " — to an extent never 
enjoyed by the children of Israel in their day of great- 
est strength and glory. We have legitimate authority 
for claiming to be specially " God's people," dwelling 
in " God's own country." Some honest, earnest, but 
unthinking persons have declared that God is not in 
the American Constitution. They are mistaken. If 
ever a document bore the unmistakable evidences of 
Divine inspiration it is the immortal deed securing to 
this people a " more perfect Union " than a " perpetual 
Union," and guaranteeing to every citizen the right 
to worship the Creator according to the dictates of his 
own conscience, forever secure from interference by 
any power on earth. God is there and the wisdom and 



30 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

strength, born of His blessed omnipotence, breathes 
forth from ever}'^ line of the Sacred Charter. From 
ocean to ocean comprises one vast temple, dedicated to 
the acknowledgment and worship of the ever-living 
God, and those who do not feel this sacred fact in the 
intellectual atmosphere of every community sadly mis- 
conceive the hopes and aspirations of the American 
nation. 

The members of the Harlan settlement in Missouri 
took an early opportunity to select and dedicate the 
loveliest and most romantic spot in the vicinity as a 
place of worship, and where the settlers might assem- 
ble whenever there was any question of general inter- 
est requiring consideration. It was close to a spring 
near the bank of the Missouri river, the waters of which 
have been dyed with Union and Confederate blood, 
as the soldiers under Colonel James A. Mulligan, of 
Illinois, on one side, and General Sterling Price, of 
Missouri, on the other, contested to the death for the 
exclusive right to its clear and sparkling w^ater. Gal- 
lantly the handful of Illinois boys made the siege of 
Lexington memorable by their stubborn defense of 
the right to use the water of this historical spring, and 
as gallantly did the Confederate boys lay down life to 
obtain the coveted possession. Finally, the spring and 
camp passed to General Price by a surrender, but as a 
testimony of his high respect for the brave men w-ith 
whom he had been contending. Colonel Mulligan and 
his entire command were permitted to go to their 
homes on parole — a course very seldom pursued to- 
ward defeated opponents by either side, in any war. 

To return to the members of the Harlan settlement : 
A commodious arbor was constructed and covered with 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 31 

boughs of trees until it was impenetrable to light 
showers of rain. Timbers of considerable size were 
split in half, and one side of the slab was hewed 
smooth. These were arranged conveniently for seats. 
Then in front was erected a platform, with a rough but 
serviceable table for the accommodation of the 
preacher, or any one who should desire to address the 
assembled settlers. To repeat, this was but a crude 
Temple of the Most High, with its counterpart in 
every pioneer settlement in the land ; but every fair 
Sunday it was filled with as devout an assemblage of 
worshipers as ever congregated in any city church. 

The first one to occupy this sylvan pulpit was Dea- 
con William Smith, a divine from Virginia who had 
wandered to the far West bearing the banner of the 
Cross, and striving to do good to his fellows. He real- 
ized that times come to all, and to dwellers on the 
frontier more frequently than to others, when human 
sympathies fail to give consolation, and the weary soul 
longs for Divine help. He was here to comfort the 
yearning mourners, and point the way to the Great 
Helper. His flock was widely separated, but he 
visited, advised with, and comforted as many as he 
could reach, and he exercised a marvelous influence in 
bringing together the persons through whom the first 
discovery of gold in California was accomplished. 
The readers of this true history will all agree that 
" God works in a mysterious way. His wonders to 
perform," and yet the seeming impossibility of inti- 
mately connecting actors so widely separated, and with 
apparently divergent interests, is brought about by 
means so natural and simple that one seems to feel 
that it would have been utterly impossible for the 



83 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

course of these lives to have led elsewhere or have 
resulted differently. So does the Ruler of worlds work 
out most all important events. 



CHAPTER Y. 

ORIGIN OF THE " F. F. VS." 

Martin Cloud was a tobacco planter in Franklin 
county, Virginia, and from 1820 to 1836 was con- 
sidered among the prosperous. He had a large planta- 
tion, and owned a considerable number of healthy and 
contented slaves, to whom he was a kind and indul- 
gent master. His family at that time consisted of a 
wife, two sons, one daughter, Elizabeth Jane, born June 
18, 1820, and all the slaves might be included, because 
in many respects they were treated as affectionately 
as the other members of the household. 

Martin Cloud was a man of strict integrity, conscien- 
tious in the performance of all the duties required of 
him as a citizen and a member of the Methodist church. 
He was charitable to those needing aid, and his well- 
known kindness of heart Avas sometimes taken advan- 
tage of by the unscrupulous. Strong in the knowledge 
that to benefit himself by a wrong was in no degree a 
temptation, he was loth to believe that others could 
practice deceit. In an evil hour, a man named John 
Risle}'', from the State of Kew Jersey, applied to him 
for the position of overseer. Risley was shrewd and 
unscrupulous. There used to be a saying that a man 
" Jersey born and Georgia bred would shave a face of 
clay," meaning that he possessed less principle than 
keenness. Risley was keen and politic. He claimed 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 38 

to be an expert tobacconist, thoroughly acquainted 
with its cultivation and cure, by improved processes, 
with which the Virginia planters were unacquainted. 
Besides he claimed to be expert in the management of 
labor. He sounded his own praises until he convinced 
Martin Cloud that he would be a valuable man to be 
connected with, and that his assurance that he could 
double the income of the plantation was more than 
probable. Having created this impression, so neces- 
sary to the success of his swindling schemes, Risley 
announced the only terms upon which he would give 
Cloud the benefit of his invaluable services. He must 
be an equal partner in the land and slaves, and for 
this half interest he must be allowed credit. The sale 
was made, and the management of land and servants 
was surrendered to the practical control of a man who 
was naturally cruel and tyrannical, and always a 
scamp. This was a sad day for the slaves, who had 
never experienced any of the cruelties which made the 
lives of some slaves unendurable. Risley selected a 
negro called big Dave to do the whipping, and for the 
slightest fault the negroes were subjected to merciless 
inflictions of the lash. A center post in the tobacco 
barn was where the slaves were tied and the lash 
applied until Dave and his barbarous master were satis- 
fied. This unnecessary cruelty was as painful to Mar- 
tin Cloud and his pious wife as to the colored victims, 
but they were powerless to prevent the whippings. 
One day Jennie's maid, Betsy, had displeased Eisley, 
and he ordered her to the whipping post. Little 
Jennie reached there before the punishment com- 
menced, and falling on her knees, she begged Dave to 
spare Betsy and punish her. Dave answered : 



34 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

" Fore God, Missey, I'd rudder be beat myself dan 
strike a lick atter de little angel had told rae not to. 
Massa Risley is welcome to whip me for not whippin' 
Betsy, but I won't do it." 

Little Jennie was shrewd beyond her years. She 
told Dave to make the lash crack around the center 
post, and she and Betsy would scream at every blow, 
until Mr. Risley would think that Betsy was getting 
far more than he pretended she deserved. The plan 
was carried out, and it is certain that Jennie and Betsy 
performed their part in fine style, making more noise 
than would have been called for if the lash had been 
applied to Betsy instead of the post. 

But other evils followed the new management. The 
flush times on the lower Mississippi, when the most 
careful went wild in senseless speculations, had been 
followed by the inevitable reaction and the depressing 
influences extended farther than had the previous 
expansions in business. Every interest in Virginia 
was affected, and the planters suffered equally with 
merchants and traders. The times were undeniably 
" hard.'- Money was scarce, and individual credit a 
thing almost unknown along in the year 1837. To 
render the conditions worse, crops were short, and 
the price of tobacco low. The large indebtedness 
contracted by Risley, and against the protests of Mar- 
tin Cloud, could not be met without sacrificing the 
plantation and most of the slaves. Martin Cloud made 
no contest. He had acted unwisely in putting so much 
authority into the hands of an unknown man, but he 
recognized and accepted his responsibility, by selling 
all he had and paying every obligation. "When this 
had been accomplished, pride or hope inclined him to 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 35 

seek a new home, where he could build afresh, and 
possibly accumulate competency for old age, which 
was stealing on apace. We do not know that Martin 
Cloud claimed to belong to the " F. F. Vs."; but it is 
certain that no man was held in higher esteem by his 
neighbors, and no family commanded a sincerer sym- 
pathy from all who knew them than the family of 
Martin Cloud in their undeserved change of circum- 
stances. 

At that time, all the gold produced in the United 
States was found in northeastern Virginia, in North 
Carolina and in northern Georgia. A mint was 
established at Dahlonega, Ga., about this date, as the 
mines of Georgia were producing more abundantly 
than those of Virginia and North Carolina, and because 
there was no mint nearer than Philadelphia, and it was 
more dangerous to carry gold nuggets and dust across 
the mountains of East Tennessee and Virginia than it 
has ever been to transport gold anywhere on the 
Pacific Coast. There were no responsible express 
companies, and stage lines were few and far between. 
The Georgia output was nearly all from placer mines 
and the beds of creeks and rivers. 

Procuring a wagon and two yoke of oxen, Martin 
Cloud loaded up with such things as he had preserved 
from the wreck of his fortune, and in June, 1837, left 
with his family for Lumpkin .county, Georgia, where 
he determined to try to retrieve his losses in a search for 
gold. The trip was tedious, and it was August before 
he arrived at his destination, Jennie was then in her 
seventeenth year, a healthy and blooming brunette, 
with lovely blue eyes, a peculiar combination always said 
to be charming. She was fairly educated for the time 



36 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

m 

and was as hopeful as the young ever should be. The 
fact that she would have to work, which had not been 
required of her in the Virginia home, gave her no con- 
cern. She was ready to share the family fortunes, and 
make home as happy as she possibly could. The feeling 
was shared by her father, mother and two brothers, and 
their advent into the mining camp was hailed with 
delight by all who were engaged in fortune hunting. The 
father and boys found employment at once, and Mrs. 
Cloud and Jennie added materially to the family income 
by conducting a miner's restaurant and boarding-house. 
The new life soon became as pleasant and cheerful as 
that to which all bad been accustomed. Thus was 
spent the fall of 1837, and Jennie Cloud was being pre- 
pared by experience for the important part she was 
destined to play later in the canyons of California. 

We have said that we have no knowledge that Martin 
Cloud claimed to be a genuine "F. F. Y." He used to re- 
peat a tradition which was given as the true origin of that 
term. In the early days of the Virginia colony female 
emigrants were a rarity. The sexes were a long way 
from equality in numbers. The males had to depend for a 
wife on the supply of females sent out from England by 
speculations. These were held at high prices — 500 
pounds of tobacco a head. They were taken at that 
price very readily. Later new dealers came into the 
market, and the supply became much larger. The price 
fell. A buxom wife could be bought for one hundred 
pounds of tobacco — the legal tender of the common- 
wealth. Then classes in rank were established. The 
descendants of the women costing 500 pounds of tobacco 
each were the F. F. V's — members of the exclusive 
"400," as it were — and those who brought only 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 37 

100 pounds of tobacco were always known among the 
colored folks as " poor white trash." We do not 
vouch for the correctness of this legend. We do know 
that whole communities in the South held families in 
great contempt who had never owned a slave. 



CHAPTER YI. 

" LO! THE BRIDEGKOOM COMETH." 

The two years spent in the mines of Northern Geor- 
gia were generally improving to the family of Martin 
Cloud. Gold was found in the soil, and in all the rivu- 
lets and streams entering the Chatahooche river from 
the North Carolina line to Marietta, in Cobb county. 
The quantity found was very small, and generally fine 
gold, but there were traditions of large nuggets, worth 
a small fortune, having been picked up by Indians, or 
some person who was not seeking gold. The possi- 
bility of more of these desirable nuggets being still in 
the sand and gravel kept the interest alive, and made 
the mining business intensely exciting. Jennie Cloud 
was the acknowledged belle of the camp, entering 
heartily into all the innocent amusements; but she 
developed a wonderful instinct for discovering rich 
dirt, and soon became a star " prospector." All the 
time not required to assist her mother, or in visiting 
and nursing the sick in the families of the miners, was 
spent in the gullies and hills looking for pay dirt. 
The returns in gold were not large, but the explora- 
tions gave great satisfaction and paid abundantly in 
experience. 



38 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

The mania for gold has no counterpart. Of any- 
thing else known one may obtain " enough." Of gold, 
the more one has the more one wants. The names of 
those who have acknowledged themselves satisfied, 
and acted up to the acknowledgment, from the begin- 
ning of the world until now, could be told off on one's 
fingers. Retired gold hunters are scarcer than hen's 
teeth. Miners may abandon the mines because the 
labor has got beyond their strength, but they persis- 
tently continue the chase for gold in some other ave- 
nue. Every intelligent human wants gold. "The 
love of it," as the well-paid preacher declares, may be 
" the root of all evil," but the one who loves it not is 
beyond the capacity of caring for anything. Those 
who have no hope of possessing gold themselves, 
delight most in hearing and reading about it. It has 
been so always, and will remain so until all humanity 
has reached that heaven whose chief attraction is its 
streets paved with " shining gold." 

Jennie Cloud was one of those hopeful, contented 
souls who are never despondent. If the find was small 
to-day, to-morrow would be more generous. Her 
buoyant spirits encouraged every one who came under 
her influence. She could have had her pick and choice 
of the stalwart young miners. Not one of them could 
claim that he was preferred to others. To all her 
presence proved a blessing. 

The winter of 1839-40 was a severe one for the miners 
of Northern Georgia. It was not alone that " hard 
times" prevailed throughout the whole country, but the 
winter was an unusually wet and disagreeable one. 
In all the gulches there was almost continually too 
much water for profitable mining, and colds were prev- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 39 

alent, and of a specially virulent type. In nearly every 
family some member was seriously ill, and in some 
families tiiere were not enough well ones to give the 
others proper attention. Under such circumstances 
the noble characteristics of Jennie found ample scope. 
She would visit, cheer and nurse the sick, and was 
nearly always supplied with delicacies for her patients 
which she had prepared with her own hands. Her 
constitution was splendid, but the unfortunate result 
which might have been expected, followed her untiring 
efforts in behalf of her neighbors. In January, after 
continuous exposure to the inclement weather, she was 
stricken down, and her grief at being denied the priv- 
ilege of ministering to her sick friends, made her case 
more serious than it would otherwise have been. She 
was soon delirious, and spent hours in repeating consol- 
inor and encouragino: words to those she had been in 
the habit of nursing. Now she required constant care 
and attention, and all the young folks, male and female, 
were ready to contest for the privilege of watching 
with her. Obadiah Baiz, a young man but a few years 
her senior, and who had long viewed her with feelings 
of earnest love, would not be denied the sad pleasure 
of constant and never-wearied watching. Young Baiz 
had no superior in the mining districts for moral 
rectitude, manly honor and good looks. In her heart, 
Jennie had long harbored the hope that Obadiah would 
declare the love which his respectful attentions to her 
indicated that he really felt. He had been a welcome 
visitor at her father's house, for even his jealous solici- 
tude for her welfare could find no objection to the 
marked attentions of a young man so thoroughly 
worthy as young Baiz. During her delirium, and 



40 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

while convalescing, Obadiah established himself beyond 
question as her devoted and willing servant. As health 
returned, many opportunities were utilized in making 
each other acquainted with all the hopes and aspira- 
tions of two loving hearts, and it was found that for 
many months these had beat almost as one. When 
Jennie was able to welcome her many friends, they 
readily surmised what she as readily admitted — that she 
and Obadiah Baiz were betrothed, and would unite in 
marriage sometime during the year. 

About this time Mrs. Cloud received a letter from 
her brother. Deacon William Smith, who had been do- 
ing missionary work in Northern Missouri. He was 
enthusiastic in his descriptions of that promising 
country, and named the " Harlan Settlement " as the 
most desirable section he had found in all his travels. 
His descriptions of the rich and boundless prairies, 
watered by many streams and rivers, and the endless 
pastures for herds of cattle and droves of horses and 
mules, and which could be had without money, and at no 
other expense the year round than changing the stock 
from one free pasture to another, were decidedly en- 
chanting. The Cloud family began to discuss the pro- 
priety of making another and longer move than the one 
from Virginia to Georgia. The gold mines did not give 
more than a hardly earned sufficiency for the ordinary 
requirements of the miners. There was no immediate 
prospect of work in the mines becoming any more re- 
munerative. As a matter of fact, the provision for old 
age was not " in sight " by a long ways, and the mining 
claims seemed a very doubtful reliance for any such 
provision. 

Jennie did her best to encourage the hope that there 



CALlFORiV/A GOLD BOOK. 41 

was a brighter day coming, but even her hopeful dis- 
position could not fix an early date for its arrival. The 
ways and means were still being discussed by the fam- 
ily when a second letter from Uncle Deacon Smith, far 
more highly colored than the first, about decided Mar- 
tin Cloud to become a pioneer. Obadiah Baiz, as was 
his right, had been cognizant of all the discussions 
held by the Clouds. He was clear headed and con- 
servative, and was slow about advising a move which 
was so important, and might be attended with dissap- 
pointment and even disaster. After the arrival of the 
second letter, written by a man of the high character 
of Deacon Smith, all hesitation disappeared from the 
mind of Baiz, all the dangers being resolved into the 
mere difficulties which would attend breaking up 
housekeeping in Georgia, and living for a few months 
in ox wagons on the road to Missouri. He became 
urgent for an immediate marriage with Jennie, so that 
he could join in the emigration as her special pro- 
tector, and take away the monotony and weariness of 
the journey by making of it a honeymoon outdoor 
pic-nic. The conversion of Baiz from his non-committal 
position to an energetic advocate for removal settled 
it, and preparations for the wedding began. The day 
was set, and the circuit rider was notified that his services 
would be required on the 25th day of April, 1840. In 
the meantime everything was being prepared for the 
comfort of the emigrants. 

Weddings were not every-day occurrences in Geor. 
gia, and not more than once in a generation were two 
as popular young people as Obadiah and Jennie joined 
in holy wedlock. Besides, the fact that the honey- 
moon was to be spent on a journey which ail felt was 



43 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

extremely perilous, added greatly to the interest and 
romance of this particular wedding. After the con- 
gratulations, and before these had been well digested, 
must come the parting which the most hopeful ac- 
knowledged would be for aye. 

Old Aunt Sally Stevens was an autocratic authority 
in that section on barbecues, pic-nics and wedding 
feasts. With efficient and obedient aids the old col- 
ored cook could provide a feast for a county. Aunt 
Sally was installed as chief of the kitchen, and was 
promised fat shoats, a lamb or two, and all the chick- 
ens, butter, eggs and sweet potatoes which she might 
require. As it was getting late in the spring Aunt 
Sally was a little doubtful of obtaining the principal 
ingredient for the delicious and satisfying potato cus- 
tard, but several volunteered to furnish the potatoes 
they had reserved for seed, and Aunt Sally was satis- 
fied. Never before was there such preparation for any 
event in Northern Georgia. If a Fourth of July and 
Christmas, supplemented by a circus, could all have 
been promised " under one tent," there could not have 
been more anxious expectations. There was no mail- 
ing of special invitations. Everybody was expected, 
and they knew their welcome would be as honest as it 
was earnest. 

The morning of the great day came. It is a tradi- 
dition in the South that May day is bound to be rainy 
and Fourth of July always fair. The twenty-fifth of 
April was a Fourth of July in clearness and a May day 
in temperature. Very early the crowds began to 
assemble, and they included old and young, and 
servants as well as masters and mistresses. That was 
a custom usual in slave times. Betimes the bride and 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 4^ 

groom appeared arrayed for the occasion. Neither 
wore " store clothes." Every article was home made 
except the ribbons and high comb with which the mag- 
nificent abundance of Jennie's auburn hair was held in 
place. The richly colored pressed flannel dress from a 
country loom, was as becoming as any trousseau ever 
prepared by Worth, and the hand-made lace with 
which her white scarf was trimmed would rival in 
value and beauty any from the looms of Lyons. A 
bouquet of fragrant flowers gave employment to her 
hands. Obadiah Baiz, in his closely fitting suit of 
home made jeans, resplendent with brass buttons, was 
the proudest man in Georgia, and took his seat beside 
Jennie with the dignity and courtesy of a prince. 

Promptly at 11 o'clock the minister arrived. He 
was dressed in a swallow-tailed coat, high standing 
collar held in place by an old-fashioned stiff stock 
which kept his chin well up, and made him appear 
many times more dignified than the occasion demanded. 
He walked immediately in front of the blushing couple 
and ordered them to stand up and clasp hands, and the 
interesting ceremony from the Methodist ritual was 
quickly said, and Obadiah Baiz and Elizabeth Jane 
Cloud were pronounced man and wife, with " what 
God has joined together, let no man put asunder." 
Then followed caressing and congratulations witiiout 
cessation until the dinner horn sounded. Parson, 
bride and groom, and all the guests proceeded to a 
little grove a few yards from the kitchen, where Aunt 
Sally and her assistants had spread a feast that was 
creditable to her skill, and equal to the importance of 
the occasion. Before being seated, the minister asked 
an eloquent blessing upon the feast, upon every guest, 



44 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

and especially upon the lovely couple who had just put 
up vows to " love, honor and cherish," and who were 
so soon to depart to a distant land in obedience to the 
command " to increase, multiply and replenish the 
earth." Then the feast began, and when the multitude 
were satisfied there were more than five basketsful 
remaining for the use of the servants, and to be sent to 
those in the neighborhood who were unable to come. 
On the 10th day of May, 1840, Martin Cloud, his 
wife and two sons, and Obadiah Baiz and Jennie bid a 
final adieu to their friends in northern Georgia. Since 
the wedding they had sold out their mining claims, 
implements and such goods as could not be packed in 
two large covered wagons, and still leave room for 
sleeping quarters in case of rain, A few rules had been 
decided upon for the prosecution of the journey, the 
most important of which was that the travelers should 
remain in camp from Saturday night until Mondaj'^ 
morning. Not a wheel should be moved on any Sun- 
day during the trip. On Sunday the oxen as well as 
themselves should devote the time to rest and recupe- 
ration. Bearing with them the good wishes and sincere 
prayers of all their old neighbors, they started for the 
distant West hopeful and happy. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ACROSS FIFTEEN HUNDRED MILES OF WILDERNESS BEHIND 

OXEN. 

In 1840 it was more than fifteen hundred miles from 
Lumpkin county, Georgia, to the " Harlan Settlement," 
now Lexington, Missouri, by any foute that could be 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 45 

traveled with a wagon. The Cloud party selected a 
longer route than needful, so as to cross the Mississippi 
river at Cape Girardeau, Mo., and make the trip up 
the west side of the Missouri river. It is a long ride 
today by rail, and across the States of Tennessee, Ken- 
tucky, Illinois, and almost the entire length of the 
State of Missouri. Let those possessing the most fer- 
tile imagination attempt to measure the courage and 
energy required to enable one to make this journey in* 
an ox wagon when the whole length of road was 
through an almost unbroken wilderness, or across 
trackless plains. There was scarcely a traveler to be 
met on the long route, and no knowledge of ferries, 
divergence of trails, or difficulties and dangers in the 
way, could be obtained by other than actual experi- 
ence. These facts taken into consideration, and the 
reader is better prepared to estimate the endless 
resources with which every member of a pioneer party 
had to be equipped to overcome obstacles and avoid 
disaster. 

The Cloud party met with no remarkable incidents 
until the Mississippi river, opposite Cape Girardeau, 
was reached. They bad taken up the march at the 
season when the woods and plains were carpeted with 
vernal green, and the oxen could satisfy hunger in a 
few hours on the rich grasses. The nights were not 
cold, and the days were generally pleasant. There 
was nothing really disagreeable in camping out, and 
every scene was new and interesting to these life-time 
residents of the older sections of the Union. 

When the Clouds reached the Mississippi river, near 
the end of June, the melted snows of the Rocky mount- 
ains, assisted by heavy spring rains, flooded the river, 



46 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

and its current was filled with driftwood — whole trees 
and giant logs. The only means of crossing at Cape 
Girardeau was in a plank boat, propelled by man power, 
using a heavy oar on each side to give the boat head- 
way, and an oar at the rear which answered the pur- 
poses of a rudder. It was ten days before the river had 
commenced to fall, upon which event the islands of 
driftwood would begin to disappear from the current. 
Until then the experienced ferrymen knew it would be 
next to impossible to make a crossing, and absolutely 
impossible to make a crossing devoid of danger, and 
they refused to attem])t to put the Cloud party across 
the river at any price. Patiently as they could they 
awaited the subsidence of the flood. Finally they were 
notified that the ferrymen would undertake to land 
them and their possessions in Missouri, but that two 
days would be required to convey everything across. 
The first day was spent in crossing the wagons, yokes 
and chains and other goods, with Martin Cloud, his 
wife and two sons. Obadiah Baiz, Jennie and the 
eight oxen had to wait until the morrow. Only four 
oxen could be taken in the boat at one trip, and Obadiah 
accompanied the first load, leaving Jennie to watch the 
remaining four oxen, and make the final trip in the 
afternoon in company with them. As there had so far 
been not a suspicion of danger or accident, no fear of 
any trouble was apprehended. The last four oxen were 
in the boat, and two-thirds of the distance between the 
banks had been accomplished, when the three boatmen 
were startled by a shrill scream from Jennie — "Look 
out for the log." To make the crossing the bow of the 
boat was turned slightly up the stream, so that the cur- 
rent should not carry it below the landing. The huge 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 47 

log and the boat had been n earing each other, the one 
impelled by the current, and the other by the strong 
arms of the ferrymen, who had not noticed the threat- 
ened coUision until their attention was called to it by 
the frightened shriek of Jennie. Then it was too late 
to avoid the shock. The blow was disastrous. The 
oxen were all thrown to the upper side of the boat, 
which immediately filled and sank, and Jennie, the 
ferrymen and the oxen were in the river together. The 
mishap was witnessed from the bank by Obadiah and 
the Clouds with such agonizing terror as cannot be 
described. To atf ord help was beyond the power of any 
but God. 

In this terrible moment Jennie was supplied with an 
inspiration which saved her life. She grabbed the tail 
of one of the oxen with a grasp as tenacious as life, 
and the faithful beast struck out for the distant shore. 
The ox swam low in the water and frequently Jennie 
would be submerged, and would think she was certain 
to drown. Before she was completely strangled she 
would get her head above water and would hear the 
screams of her mother and the encouraging shouts of 
her husband and father. And every moment the power- 
ful brute was getting nearer and nearer to the loved ones 
and safety. These facts induced her to hang on with the 
energy and strength of despair. Persons resuscitated 
from drowning tell about vivid pictures of every inci- 
dent of a whole life passing before their mental vision 
in the few seconds between being submerged and loss 
of consciousness. Jennie has frequently asserted that 
all the incidents of three lives — past, present and 
future — seemed to well up and become a part of her- 
self. Finally the brave old ox, with his precious 



48 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

charge, reached the shore. There were willing hands 
to help him to land, and to seize the apparently life- 
less form of Jennie and bear her to a waiting cot. 
Very soon she returned to consciousness, and,, except 
for the terrible shock, was but little the worse for this 
awful experience. Obadiah had given her up for lost 
many times during her passage to the shore. The 
time was short, but it was ample for him to enter into 
many silent covenants with God that if Jennie were 
spared every energy of his soul and being should be 
devoted to enhancing her comfort and happiness. 
These covenants were never forgotten or ignored by 
him in the future. As long as he lived his efforts 
were devoted to the happiness of the wife he had so 
nearly lost. 

In a few days Jennie was entirely recovered, and 
her spirits were as buoyant as they had ever been in 
her life. The short delay had rested the entire party, 
and the faithful oxen were seemingly stronger and more 
obedient than ever. Then the hopeful party took up 
the line of march for the Harlan settlement, greatly 
encouraged by their unusually quick and successful 
trip to this point. There was a trail leading past Iron 
Mountain, and north of west to Lafayette county, in 
which the Harlan settlement was situated. This trail was 
frequently traveled by parties going to St. Louis, whether 
from the southeastern or northwestern part of the 
State. When our travelers reached Iron Mountain 
they were surprised by the vast body of ore which 
is there collected in one mass, and its apparent 
richness. Two pieces of ore struck together gave out 
the clear ring of two pieces of pure metal They mar- 
veled that such a ponderous deposit, of such richness. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 49 

had not been utilized to a greater extent. And visitors 
to Iron Mountain now would marvel not less than did 
our travelers in the summer of 1840. An opening had 
been made near the top of tiie mountain, four or five 
hundred feet from its base. For more than fifty years 
ore approaching closely to pure metal has been mined 
and the excavation made in all these years would be 
more than filled by any one of many of the business 
blocks in any of our large cities. The St. Louis and Iron 
Mountain railroad skirts the base of the mountain. 
Across its track, and not more than a mile from the 
mountain proper, is a vast deposit of very rich magnetic 
ore. Surely in these two deposits there is enough raw 
material for all the street rails and steel vessels that 
the United States may have use for in ages to come. 

Our pa.rty left St. Louis to its right, and passed on 
by easy stages to its destination, arriving there early 
in October. The political campaign was at its height. 
"Tippecanoe and Tyler too," was the popular ticket. 
It was specially popular at the Harlan settlement, for 
Captain Harlan had shared the dangers met by Tippe- 
canoe in all the wars on the frontier. He was an 
enthusiastic admirer of his old general, and believed 
that opposition to him for president was a species of 
high treason. Political meetings — Harrison ratifica- 
tions — were of frequent occurrence. The last and most 
important was to be held just about the time our trav- 
elers would reach the settlement. Their coming was 
wholly unexpected. They never had acquainted Dea- 
con Smith of their intention to remove to Missouri, and 
as luck would have it, he had been selected to deliver 
the speech of his life at this great Harrison rally, and 
the speech was to be followed by a grand barbecue, for 



50 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Harrison was a real " F. F. V," Deacon Smith was 
early on the ground, and from every quarter of Lafa- 
yette county came enthusiastic crowds with waving 
banners and tumultuous cheering. Before the speaking- 
commenced, two wagons were seen approaching which 
bore the unmistakable marks of having made a lono- 
journey, and were instantly recognized as belonging to 
a band of home hunters. Deacon Smith and all the 
others approached to bid the travelers welcome, and 
promise them aid and sympathy. His astonishment 
and delight at meeting his sister and her husband and 
family came near disqualifying him for the position of 
orator of the day on this great occasion. However, 
after the necessary hand-shaking and congratulations, 
the unexpected reunion had the effect of clearing his 
brain and inspiring him with a flow of language and a 
volume of convincing arguments, which he delivered 
with an eloquence that captured the last Yan Burenite 
who had risked his democracy by attending this 
meeting. 

The reception of the newcomers was most \)ordial. 
The new settlement had every thing desirable but 
people, and the families of Martin Cloud and Obadiah 
Baiz were recognized as a great acquisition. Deacon 
Smith had become highly popular, and these relatives 
of his got the benefit thereof. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

TO THE SETTING SUN. 

The site chosen for the Harlan settlement was one 
of the most attractive in the State of Missouri. In 
1840 the population of the whole State was only 383,- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 51 

702, and Lafayette county contained more deer, buffalo 
and elk than inhabitants. But the coming of settlers, 
and the prosperity they would create, was onl}^ a ques- 
tion of time. The soil was adapted to the growth of 
everything produced in the temperate zone, and the 
yield of tobacco and hemp had proved far beyond that 
obtained in Kentuck}'^, Viginia or Maryland. These 
were the only products which, at that time, could be 
depended upon to bring ready cash, or, at least, the 
only articles which would return a good profit after 
paying for transportation and brokers' commissions. 
The settlers up to date were all honest and thrifty, 
and others were coming in every week from the South 
and East who would have been welcomed anywhere. 
Many from the South brought their slaves, and the 
plains were being transformed into orchards and fields 
of waving grain. The meeting place at the spring was 
still retained for the uses of the settlement, but school- 
houses and churches began to take the place of arbors. 
The various neighborhoods were getting dissatisfied 
with having to depend wholly upon the Harlan settle- 
ment for a place in which to assemble. During the 
next three years there was not a hint that any one of 
the settlers was not there to stay. It seemed to be 
just the spot all had been longing for, and fitted to fill 
every human requirement. The section was unusually 
healthy until 1843. Then the ague seemed to become 
epidemic, and of a most virulent type. Now the medi- 
cal profession would, give the complaint some other 
name, but then it was known as chills and fever. It 
was in nearly every family. 

The members of the Harlan settlement were largely 
related, either by blood or marriage. They were a 



52 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

social people, and met nearly every Sunday at the 
arbor, or wherever there was preaching, and as fre- 
quently as possible at each other's homes. The fami- 
lies of Peter Wiramer and Obadiah Baiz were on 
adjoining farms, and they were congenial in their 
tastes, and specially friendly in their associations. 
Either was always ready to help the otlier, and the fre- 
quency and freedom with which small services would be 
asked, and the promptness and pleasure with which they 
were rendered, can only be understood and appreciated 
by pioneers. Great services would have been performed 
with equal promptness. The family of Wiramer now 
consisted of Polly and five children, and that of 
Obadiah Baiz had been increased by two lovely chil- 
dren since he and Jennie left Georgia. In the late 
summer of 18i3 both families were sadly afflicted. 
Obadiah Baiz, so long in the enjoyment of perfect 
health, was stricken with the prevailing fever. About 
this time Polly Wimmer was taken down with the 
same complaint. All that affection could do was done 
for each, but during the fall both died, leaving two 
sadly bereaved households. It was not in the nature 
of Peter AVimmer to repine, and his attentions to his 
motherless children became redoubled and more affec- 
tionate. The grief of Jennie Baiz was very great, but 
it was lessened by the necessity for the care of her two 
little ones. The intimacy of the two families was 
increased. Jennie could perform very many necessary 
services for the little helpless Wimmers which Peter 
was ignorant how to do ; and a thousand things about 
the Baiz homestead required the strong arm and expe- 
rienced brain of a man. Even their mutual afflictions 
increased and strengthened the bonds of friendship. 



CAUFORXIA COLD BOOK. 

fiarmg; known the departed ones so mtmaftdj, 
odier in the woild was so qualified to conwi i r, as 
w»e these two to eoflifoit each other. Together ther 
dwMtated the toaibs <tf the loted and lortwith flowers, 
and together thej eonnraned <rf all the hopes and ex- 
pectatkas whidi had been bniied in the fpsx^ Each 
had been gircn sxh i ■■■ml if ion as their friendlT 
n^^dM»s ooald bestow, bnt their nnrtnal eoBdolences 
mote genmne and eondEortiiig beeanae each 
the bereaTcsent ctf the otho-'s heart bj the 
pdgnancj of its own grief. The end <tf these jntimate 
relations the reader has already Mifiitrd. Aftera 
year of nMnnniB^ and londineas ^ wedding gare PoDt 
WinnMr's fire children an affeetioaale Bother, and the 
two orphans of Ofaadiah Baiz a Cfanstian father. All 
their aeqnaintanees joined in ecngiatnjatioas, becanse 
thej knew the stetfing worth cX. each of the paitiei- 
pants in the nuuna^ oblations, and tb^t frtm evoj 
pontctf Tievamore wise and cihiit anaige- 

tini eorid not hate been m^ 7 i^^'- 

affpfftann as tme and deep as : 
lowed befne, and eonld be ec 1 
lojahty to their 




ianandsi — T liimight 

betxaeed: rr m" 



54 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

— to be planting other foundations for prosperous com- 
munities — bad induced a considerable number to talk of 
going west. The settlement was not far distant from 
Fort Independence, the point near tbe Missouri river 
at which all the trappers and hunters in the employ of 
the American Fur Company, and all the traders from 
Taos and Santa Fe, in New Mexico, and other points 
in the Rocky Mountains and beyond, came for supplies, 
or to take boat for St. Louis. The stories told by 
these brave adventurers, many of whom knew little of 
English and less of civilization, were far too rose-colored 
to be believed in their entirety ; but enough was probabl}' 
true to quicken the pulses of men who had never known 
any existence but that of frontiersmen. Especiall}'^ 
glowing were the descriptions of California. These 
were mainly corroborated by the lately published story, 
"Three Years before the Mast," by Dana, of Boston, a 
copy of which had found its way to this backwoods 
settlement. Captian Harlan exercised great influence 
over the honest settlers, all of whom had perfect con- 
fidence in his judgment. He was early determined to 
know more of the land of perpetual summer if he lived 
long enough to make the trip. Every story from the 
Pacific was listened to with avidity, as they are to this 
day, and at the Sunday gatherings, and whenever there 
was a visit exchanged, the main subject of talk was 
California. The war with Mexico was then fully 
determined upon, the election of James K. Polk having 
shown a majority of the people in favor of assisting 
the Texans in sustaining their right to independence. 
A large portion of the settlement were conservative, and 
argued that Lafayette county v^-as plenty good for any 
one, and that it was wise to "let well enough alone." 



CALIFORXIA GOLD BOOK. 55 

They wanted none of California, or any other place in 
the Rocky Mountains or beyond. This gave the ques- 
tion two sides, with earnest defenders of each, and the 
discussions were constant, generally friendly, but some- 
times decidely warm and exciting. During the year 
and more that this was theprevailingsubject of talk in 
the Harlan settlement, the citizens of Hancock and 
the adjoining counties in Illinois had killed Joe Smith 
and some of his followers, and had determined that 
all the rest shoidd leave Xauvoo or meet a li!:e fate. 
The Mormons had previously been driven from Mis- 
souri, and knew they were too few in numbers to es- 
tablish themselves in the vicinity of civilized communi- 
ties, and in 1S45 had passed by Fort Independence 
on their pilgrimage to the desert. It was known they 
had made a stand at Salt Lake, and Captain Harlan 
insisted that if these ungodly persons could make the 
trip Christiars need not fear to undertake it. and a 
considerable number of his hearers agreed with him, 
so that towards the fall of 1S45 quite a company had 
decided to journey to the Pacific with all they possessed, 
includmg wives and little ones. In fact, it was 
settled and understood that they would take a last 
farewell of every relative and friend who did not 
accompany them, or who shoidd not follow later on. 
A possible return was not thought of by any one. 
It having been settled that the move would be 
made, preparations were commenced. All who had 
decided to join Captain Harlan were practical and 
experienced men. They had made long journeys, but 
heretofore settlements were not more than a few days' 
journey apart. Now they all knew that after leaving 
Fort Independence no settlement of whites would be 



56 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

seen until the long and perilous journey was con- 
cluded. 

When Deacon Smith learned that Peter Wimraer 
and Jennie, the Deacon's niece, had concluded to jour- 
ney to California, he made no attempt to dissuade 
them. Rather, he gave them encouragement, accom- 
panied with his blessing. He said to Peter : " You 
are undertaking a long journey. It is not probable 
you will ever care to return to Missouri. You prob- 
ably have noticed that all persons, on hearing of a new 
country, immediately conceive a visionary picture 
thereof. In my mind 1 have such a picture of your 
California. I think it is a land flowing with milk and 
honey, and peculiarly blessed in soil and climate by 
the God we revere. I am sure it is adapted to the 
growth of fruits and flowers and vines, and that all 
manner of grains will grow there luxuriantly. I can 
not help imagining it much like the land of Ophir, 
whence, the Bible tells us, came the gold and precious 
stones which ornament the streets of the New Jerusa- 
lem. If I live until science has explored the valleys 
and mountains of California, I will be much disap- 
pointed if vast amounts of silver and gold are not pro- 
duced for the use of man. I believe you have chosen 
well, and if I were younger would be tempted to join 
the Harlan band, and defy the perils of the dangerous 
journey." 

The first care of the emigrants was the construction 
of wagons for the trip. As there were no boats or 
ferrymen on the route, the wagons had to be made 
strong, and the beds so nicely jointed that they would 
be water-tight, and would answer for boats when 
rivers had to be crossed. The covers were made of 



CAUFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 57 

superior tent cloth, impervioos to dew or rain, and the 
tops of all provided for this band were uniformly 
painted a bright red. The side-cloths of every wagon 
cover had "California" in large letters painted on 
each. The wagons were all of extra size, even for 
"prairie schooners.'* and as perfectly constructed as 
skill of man. and fine workmanship and materia], 
could compass. They were to be drawn by four yoke 
of cattle each, and two cows for each wagtHi had been 
broken to work in the yoke, so that the emigrants 
would not want for mUk on the way. Indeed, provis- 
ion was also made for a supply of butter. A chom 
was fastened to the outside of each wagon, and into 
this the surplus milk was poured ; and the violent 
shaking it would receive in passing over the rough 
roads would produce an excellent article of bntter. 
Every other article which experience had taught them 
would be required, was procured. Fresh meat they 
were sure to have in plenty, as the whole country 
through which they were to pass was alive with all 
kinds of game, and especially buffaloes, elk, deer and 
antelopes. 

It was arranged that all who intended to join the 
* Harlan Band " should rendezvous at Fort Independ- 
ence early in April, 1*4^. In good time Captain 
George W. Harlan. Jacob Wright ELarlan, George 
Harlan. Jr., John Hargrave, Peter L. Wimmer, John 
S pence and Ira and John Van Gordon, with thdr 
wives and children, were in readiness. There were 
others, who, including the unmarried men, formed a 
party of eighty-four souls, and about one hundred 
wagons. The season was unusually late that year, and 
it was not deemed safe to make the start until the 



58 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

grass began to appear. The company went into camp 
on Indian Creek, twenty-five miles west of Fort Inde- 
pendence, April 12, 1846. Other organized com- 
panies arrived at that point, until there were probably 
five hundred wagons, accompanied by some bands of 
cattle and a number of horses, which were being 
driven across the plains on speculation. 

May first the Harlan band broke camp, and took the 
trail for the Platte river. A considerable number of 
adventurous Americans had already crossed the plains; 
but notwithstanding there was no road between the 
Missouri and Pacific which deserved any other appella- 
tion than "trail." The emigrants were mainly de- 
pendent upon notes made from information gained 
from trappers, and the very rough map which had 
been constructed to aid in the translation of the notes. 
It was \Qry much like Columbus turning the prow of 
his vessel toward the center of the illimitable ocean, 
and trusting to God and his own courage and genius 
for the discovery of a route, and to meet and over- 
come difficulties. Like in his case, every provision 
had been made to meet emergencies which could be 
foreseen; but it was the vast unknown which might 
furnish insurmountable obstacles. In both cases there 
was indomitable courage, and it is said, and is un- 
doubtedly true, that God smiles upon and blesses the 
brave, while He heartily despises a coward. Many 
years ago, using old Zephry Pencontre for an interpre- 
ter, we asked an Indian brave, who was decorated 
with scalps of many enemies, what was the unpardon- 
able sin ? Quick as a flash he answered, " to lie and be 
afraid." Civilization cannot furnish a better answer. 
Falsehood and cowardice are twins. The good and 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 69 

truthful man has no call to be afraid of man or his 
maker, and our emigrants comprised as brave and true 
a body of men and women as ever embarked upon any 
undertaking inspired of God. 

A stout windlass had been provided, and was taken 
along, which, was to be used in forcing the wagon bed 
boats across rivers, and for drawing the loaded wagons 
up, and letting them down mountains, which were too 
steep for the strength of the ox teams to manage. In- 
deed, these pioneers anticipated finding precipices 
where even the oxen might have to be raised and 
lowered by man power, and the windlass and an 
abundance of strong ropes would be a necessity. They 
knew, before starting, some of the obstacles they were 
sure to encounter. They were practically the absolute 
vanguard of the immense emigration which took place 
a few years later. They were spared some of the terri- 
ble sights which shocked those who crossed the plains 
in 1852, and later, when almost every rod of the route 
from the Platte to Sacramento had one or more skele- 
tons of those who had started with as brilliant expec- 
tations as any of our party ; more brilliant, in fact, for 
inexhaustible gold mines were expected by those who 
left their homes in the East after the beginning of 
1849, only to find the bones of the victims of cholera, 
and leave their own skeletons to increase the vast 
number of unsepultured dead, which strewed the 
plains all the long way. 

The Harlan band was treated to the finest kind of 
weather at the start. The main trouble experienced 
was the frequent crossing of the Platte, which became 
dangerous at some places where the bottom was a bed 
of quicksands greedy for victims. In such places the 



60 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOJf. 

only safety was in goading the oxen forward. If they 
halted for a few seconds the hungry sands commenced 
to swallow wagons and teams. In one case, when Mrs. 
"Wimmer was driving a team, a second's halt gave the 
sands time to grasp the feet of the off wheel ox with a 
death-like grip, and make it impossible for him to move. 
Each instant he was sinking deeper and deeper, Jennie 
sprang upon the tongue, and reaching the front, with 
voice and goad, she spurred the lead oxen, still fortu- 
nately free, to pull the fast disappearing ox from his 
dangerous position. Her self-possession and prompti- 
tude saved this ox, and probably the others from being 
swallowed up by the treacherous sands. Sometimes, in 
the sloughs and small streams entering the Platte, the 
quicksands were so plentiful that it was impossible to 
ford or ferry. Then the windlass was rigged, and the 
stout rope fastened to all the yokes and to the tongue, 
and wagon and oxen were dragged across by main 
strength. When unfordable rivers were met with, the 
windlass and ropes did service. A stout post was 
securely sunk on the bank, and the cable was fastened 
to that. Then the other end was taken across the 
stream by a man on horseback, and there fastened 
securely to another post. Then the crossing began in 
the wagon-bed boats, and generally two or three days 
would be consumed in ferrying the train across. This 
time was utilized by the women in washing and drying 
the clothing, and in recuperating the stock. It was a 
very tiresome way of making haste, but the brave 
pioneers made no complaint. 

Thus the brave band worked its way across the rivers 
and plains to the base of the Eocky Mountains, at a 
place on the Sweet Water, which they named Indepen- 



CAUFOEXIA GOLD 300K. 



Sock, beeane iboe tb^ rriphraliBd the Fontk 
<rf Jalj. iMJfpriiriT fiod^ bas relaned its bsbc. 
aad froB 1&I6 aBtil wmt otvciaBd eangnnts ksve 
piaMfd to leacfa that pinfc lor the aamivflsaiy of the 
oooatij^s aatal daj. Here^ too, the pfaoi s afaoadoaed, 
aad MMiitahi aad caBjoa, with their eaBBlaa& 19it- 
ing laBdacape, faeeome & fill mh aad i ii Mil ■!,&■• 
■oooelaMwra what ■ Jgaii ipe«t¥iews May 
attheaexttan ia the Boaftaia fomL The 

hoe was sot awrelj a potiiotac faanah over the 
reatBe9B,aMltheezteataad lidnesB of the 
(MHUiL It was also aa oecaaoB of heaitfelt 
thaakfidaess. Kiery mua berof theHariaa haad who 
had started £r«m Jfknan was l^ne to aaawer the loil- 
cafl, aad there had beeaao iadispodtioa of eoanqaeaee 
ezpetkBcedbjoldor joaaj^ The '^ dead brdajaad 
pifiar of fire hgr aig^^ which agrifies the protectiaa 
<rf hesYiea, a i aw d toward off w Kkmea ^ as wefl as other 
daagcHLaad oar eangnuts settled dowa eoacteaiedlT 
for a three dax% rest. 



CHAPTEB IX. 

aOAD BCniKSG IS TBS 'mocsTjosm. 

The halt of tloee da js at Tadrpnaharr Boefc 

sort Jadi^jpanWe. W^oas aad other thii^ 

repair, aad the cattle were ia aeed of rest. 

la all the k^ joaraer betweea the Miaoari over aad 

the SaoTfiiTo TaBey, the Hariaa haad haitrd aowhcre 

TT -'- -' >n a daj, except at Tadrpra d fa c e Bock aad 

^er, aad while JohB Haiwrave lar aaitjag for 

Tiaee or foar dajs wcrespeat at Foil ^idger. 



62 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

and here information was received which determined 
some of the band to attempt a new route, while a num- 
ber, including the ill-fated Donner famih% concluded to 
stick to the old and longer trail, known as the Hall route. 
Captain Harlan had been assured that a long distance 
could be saved by following up the Sweet Water to its 
head, and there crossing the divide into Echo canyon. 
His information gave no hint of unusual difficulties in 
the way, and certainly none which could not be sur- 
mounted in a small part of the time which would be 
saved by taking the new route. Reid, the Donnersand 
a few others, were opposed to " swapping horses in the 
midst of the stream,"' and stuck to the better known 
route, encountering such misfortunes as will be remem- 
bered as long as there is history of pioneer trials. The 
division somewhat weakened the band, and was greatly 
regretted by Captain Harlan and those who elected to 
try the new route. Few difficulties, greater than those 
heretofore experienced, were met with until the divide 
had been practically crossed, and the pioneers entered 
Echo canyon. Here trouble began. The canj^on is 
scarcely wide enough to accommodate the narrow river 
which traverses it, and there was no room for roads 
between its waters and the abrupt banks. In many 
places great boulders had been rolled by the mountain 
torrents and lodged together, forming an impassible 
way until drilled and blasted into fragments which 
could be handled. Three such obstacles were encoun- 
tered, and only about a mile a day was averaged for 
more than a week. The sides of the mountain were 
covered by a dense growth of willows, never penetrated 
by a white man. Three times spurs of the mountains 
had to be crossed by rigging the windlass on top, and 




Hoisting a Team Up the Mountain. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 63 

lifting the wagons almost bodily. The banks were very- 
steep, and covered by loose stones, so that a mountain 
sheep would have been troubled to keep its feet, much 
more an ox-team drawing a heavily loaded wagon. On 
the 11th of August, while hoisting a yoke of oxen and a 
wagon up Webber mountain, the rope broke near the 
windlass. As many men as could surround the wagon 
were helping all they could by lifting at the wheels and 
sides. The footing was untenable, and before the rope 
could be tied to anything, the men found they must 
abandon the wagon and oxen to destruction, or be 
dragged to death themselves. The faithful beasts 
seemed to comprehend the danger, and held their ground 
for a few seconds, and were then hurled over a preci- 
pice at least To feet high, and crushed in a mangled 
mass with the wagon on the rocks at the bottom of the 
canyon. The loss of the wagon was serious, but it was 
not felt as was that of the oxen, whose faithful service 
for so many weeks had endeared them to every member 
of the band. 

Finally the mountain was crossed, and the band 
entered Salt Lake valley. So slow and toilsome, to 
say nothing of its dangers, had the latter part of the 
journey been, that members of the part}'^ compared the 
universal joy and rejoicing to what they supposed 
would be felt when the gates of heaven were opened 
for their entrance into the realms of eternal bliss. 
Even the cattle seemed to share in the general cheer. 
A camp was established in the edge of the valley, near 
the Jordan river, and all felt sure that the worst was 
passed. These were the pioneers, as the reader must 
remember, who were actually blazing out a route for 
the use of many thousands in the future. Their 



64 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

information as to proper routes was meager, and in 
most cases lacked definiteness, and at every foot tiiey 
were attacking tiie absolutely unknown. It is not 
strange that after the mountain mysteries, the luxuri- 
antly clothed valley welcomed them as a paradise. 
For the first time in many weeks, there was music and 
dancing in the camp. Mrs. Jacob Harlan and her 
sister Minerva were expert violinists, and the character 
of music furnished the dancers was superb. 

But the rejoicing was tempered by hard and careful 
work. The rough usage the wagons had received in 
the mountains had racked the wagon boxes until they 
were as worthless for ferr^^ boats as a sieve would be. 
They all had to be carefully caulked, because the Jor- 
dan and other rivers were to be crossed. In due time 
all were again in perfect repair, and the Jordan river 
was crossed. Now came the saddest incident of the 
trip. John Hargrave had taken cold after a day of 
extra trying labor in the mountains, and it had fas- 
tened upon his system and developed into typhoid 
pneumonia. His sickness affected every member of 
the band, and the affection among whom could be 
measured by the serious dangers they had shared 
together. He was too sick to travel, and no one 
thought of moving a rod until he was well again. The 
delay troubled them not a little bit, but sorrow at the 
serious illness of Hargrave grieved every one of his 
comrades. From day to day he became worse, until 
at last he died, and a fearful gloom settled upon the 
camp. His grave was made on a knoll near the river 
Jordan, and no one ever had a more sincere band of 
mourners to lay him away. His last resting place was 
a bower of flowers placed by loving hands, and every 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 65 

flower and particle of earth that formed his covering 
was wet with the tears of the mourners. A prayer 
was said and a hymn suns;, and his sympathizing 
friends left him to the quiet of the desert, until he 
shall be awakened on the resurrection mom. 

Xear the crossing of the Jordan river, Peter Wim- 
mer and John S pence, while hunting, discovered a 
couple of petrified Indians. They were in solid stone, as 
natural as life, and would have formed a most valuable 
addition to any collection of natural curiosities. The 
hair of each was as firmly fixed in the solid rock or 
petrified head, as ever was hair on a living person. But 
the policy of this band had been to preserve peaceful 
relations with the Indians who might be met. and to 
treat all with the sincerest kindness. The policy was 
effective. The band was undisturbed by Indians on the 
whole route. They seem to have been advised of the 
friendly character of the band with the vermOion- 
colored wagons, and the Indians gave them courteous 
treatment. "Wimmer and Spence felt sure the Indians 
woidd look unkindly on any disturbance of their cm'i- 
ously preserved dead, and the everlastmg mummies were 
left where they were found. The route of the band was 
on the south side of Salt Lake, and skirting the mountain 
so as to be sure of water. When the edge of the real 
desert was reached, which was readily recognized from 
the chart and descriptions received, preparations were 
made for crossing the desolate wastes. Provided with 
an ample supply of water, and thoroughly rested, the 
train started across, and wastwodavsand nights almost 
uninterruptedly moving on before safety for the stock 
from thirst and starvation was reached. Then there 
was another rest. Soon after startina: a mountain was 



66 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOR. 

reached, which the members of the band called Back- 
bone mountain, and skirting which brought them to 
the Thousand Springs valley, and from thence across 
to the little Humboldt, and down this to Mary's river, 
now the Humboldt. They passed down that to the 
Basin and Sinks, and across the desert to the Truckee 
river, which takes its rise in the Sierra Nevada moun- 
tains. Reaching the head waters of the Truckee, the 
windlass and ropes were again necessary to lift the 
wagons and oxen over the rocks. Here the party were 
treated to a general snow-storm, which gave them the 
impression that there was a mistake somewhere in 
styling this the land of perpetual summer.^ 

Crossing the divide, the party was on the Yuba 
river, and soon after the divide was crossed to Bear 
river. Before starting down the mountain, it happened 
that Mrs. Wimmer was alone in camp, when she had 
an unexpected and decidedly unwelcome caller. A 
huge grizzly made the camp a visit of inspection, pro- 
bably induced thereto by the scent of the cooking which 
was new and specially pleasant to his olfactories, Mrs. 
Wimmer was frightened, and undecided whether to 
seek safety in flight, or hide in one of the wagons. 
Finally she thought of bombarding a wagon-box with 
stones, and accompanying that with all the noise she 
could make. This mode of attack proved eminently 
successful, and the bear moved leisurely off to the 
mountains. None of the band, when told of the visit, 
could remember that he had lost a bear, and so spent no 
time in looldng up this grizzly. 

On the Bear river another of the band was laid to 
rest. The grief at the loss was not so great as when 
John Hargrave was stricken down, but the funeral 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 67 

rites were performed in sorrow, not unmixed with 
thankfulness, because it is improbable that so large a 
company ever made the long journey across the plains 
with only two calls to perform the burial service. 
There was great cause for thankfulness that the band 
had so well escaped loss from accident or disease. 

From this point the Harlan band went down to 
Steep hollow, and from thence across to Johnson's 
rancho, on the edge of the Sacramento valley. Here 
they were received with such an expressive welcome 
as made them almost forget their trials and the dan- 
gers through which they had passed. The owner of the 
rancho was formerly an English sailor, but several 
years previously had left the ship and married a squaw, 
and was now living most contentedly. Nothing he 
possessed was considered too good with which to 
welcome and regale the wearied emigrants, and here 
they stopped for ten days, recruiting the strength of 
themselves and cattle. Their objective point was' 
Sutter's Fort, but having met with one who was glad 
to tell all he knew about that point, and the ease with 
which it could be reached, they fully realized that their 
long journey was practically ended, though many miles 
were yet to be traveled. 

The grass was luxuriant and the air warm, and the 
emigrants and stock recuperated rapidly. About the 
20th of October, 1846, the Harlan band left the hos- 
pitalities so generously tendered by Mr. Johnson, and 
started on the last lap of the long journey. Only one 
incident of any importance occured before they reached 
Sutter's Fort. A recruiting oflScer met the band and 
sought to enlist all the able-bodied men for service in 
the Mexican \var,'^which was then raging furiously; 



68 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

but the men had started for a given point, and declined 
to be side-tracked until the women and children were 
in safety. The band arrived at Fort Sutter about the 
15th of November, 1846, and were heartily welcomed 
by the owner, Capt. John A. Sutter. 

After a short time spent in looking over the condi- 
tion of things, and getting Jennie and the children in 
comfortable quarters, Peter. L. Wimmer joined Captain 
Aram's company and started out in defense of the 
country. His service was brief, as he was shortly 
afterwards disabled by being thrown from a wagon, the 
team he was driving having become unmanageable and 
run away. Before he was fit for active duty, the war 
was practically ended, and he was employed about the 
Fort. In this way nearly a year passed, and then 
Captain Sutter determined to build a flour mill on Sutter 
creek, and Peter Wimmer, Peter Quivey, John Starks, 
and an old man named Gengery, were sent out in 
search of the timber required. After Wiramer and 
Starks had cut the first timber, and hewed out two 
mill shafts, the enterprise was abandoned, and a point 
was selected in Coloma valley, on the American river 
upon which to construct a saw-mill, and Mr. Wimmer 
and his family left the Fort August 25, 1847, and 
took up residence in the vicinity of the mill site, where 
Peter Wimmer was employed, and Elizabeth Jane 
Wimmer thus became the first white woman to set foot 
in a section of the country whose fame very soon after 
became as wide as the world. During the first nine 
months of her residence in Coloma valley, not another 
ivhite woman ventured there. 



I CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK:. 69 

CHAPTEK X. 

JAMES W. MARSHALL. 

James W. Marshall was born in Hope township, 
Hunterdon county, New Jersey, May 10, 1812. Lit- 
tle is known of his early boyhood, but he was appren- 
ticed to learn the wagon and coach-making trade when 
very young and became a careful and expert work- 
man. When out of his apprenticeship he caught the 
"Western fever" and went to Indiana to '' grow up 
with the country." Soon afterwards he went to Illi- 
nois, and in 1840 made another move, this time beyond 
the Missouri river, and bought a farm in the Platte 
purchase, near what is now Leavenworth, Kansas. 
Here he remained till 1843, and was obtaining finan- 
cial success. He was specially subject to malarial 
influences, and was so severely afflicted with chills and 
fever during the fall of that year that his physician 
advised him that he must leave the country or die. 
His face was turned westward and he refused to go 
back toward the place of his nativity. 

In May, 1844, his was one of about one hundred 
wagons that set out for the Pacific. The intention of 
these emigrants was to reach California, and there was 
no division of the train until Fort Hall was reached. 
There Marshall and about forty others determined to 
branch off and proceed to Oregon, and from thence go 
to California if their interests should so incline them. 
The Indians were then very troublesome, but so watch- 
ful was the company to which Marshall was attached 
that no attack was made upon it during the entire 
trip. 



70 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Marshall was dissatisfied with his prospects in Ore- 
gon and only remained there during the winter. The 
climate was too wet, and the probability of another 
attack of chills and fever decided him on making his 
way to California, which he did overland, arriving at 
Cache creek, about forty miles from New Helvetia, 
now Sacramento, in June, 1845. Very soon after- 
wards Marshall made the acquaintance of Captain Sut- 
ter, and about the same time bought two leagues of 
land on Butte creek, in what is now Butte county. 
This he stocked with cattle to the extent of his means 
and credit, and improved the place so that he could 
live there in comfort. 

In the summer of 1846, a considerable portion of the 
Mexican population, led by ambitious men, began to 
anticipate a date at which the American residents would 
be in the ascendant if emigration were not stopped, and 
organized to prevent any more Americans from enter- 
ing California. Force was threatened. Fremont was 
4;hen at Sutter Buttes with an insignificant command, 
and Sutter, Marshall, and all the other Americans within 
reach, organized to join Fremont in defense of their 
countrymen. The " Bear Flag " episode was inaugurated. 
Marshall made a good and efficient soldier, until the 
surrender of General Andres Pfco in March, 1847, closed 
the war, and he was mustered out. He returned to 
Fort Sutter to find his ranch devastated, and his stock 
all gone. No one would tell who was responsible for 
his losses, and he became wholly despondent. 

Nothing better offering, Marshall accepted the posi- 
tion of overseeing some Indians employed by Captain 
Sutter in burning charcoal. His health was bad, and 
was not improved by the almost hopeless prospects 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 71 

ahead of him. He was camping out near the burning 
pits, and for want of proper food and care, became 
almost helpless. In this condition he was found by 
Mrs. Wimmer, who prepared and carried to him food, 
and encouraged him with hope until he was placed in 
their cabin by Peter Wimmer, where he could receive 
proper attention. He was soon restored to compara- 
tive health, and with it a return to hope. 

At this time Captain Sutter was the largest producer 
of grain in the Sacramento valley, and probably in 
California. Large numbers of emigrants reached the 
Coast every fall ^and the prospects were that the num- 
bers would greatly increase in the future. All of them 
had to have flour, and would like to have lumber. Both 
articles were scarce and high in price. 

Marshall recommended the building of a saw and 
grist-mill. An agreement was entered into with Cap- 
tain Sutter, by which Marshall would perform the labor, 
and Sutter furnish the money required. 

The articles of agreement were drawn by John Bid- 
well, prohibition candidate for President in 1892. 
Under this agreement Marshall hunted up a location, 
finally selecting the place where gold was found, because 
it was convenient lo timber, and it was possible to 
transport lumber thence to Fort Sutter b}' wagon. 

August 19, 1847, Peter L. "Wimmer, Jennie Wimmer 
and ten Indians, set out for Coloma, and work com- 
menced on the mill as soon as they arrived. Wimmer 
was engaged as overseer, and Mrs. Wimmer as house- 
keeper, and all were under the directions of Marshall. 

The mill building progressed slowly, and during the 
month of December the dam and headgate had been 
completed, and water was turned on at night, so as to 



72 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

wash out the sand and gravel which would be dug up 
by the men during the day. This was considered by 
Marshall a more certain way of getting rid of it than by 
shovelling, as by the latter method considerable would 
fall back from the bank into the race. 

The date is very uncertain when the first gold was 
noticed. Marshall had frequently seen shining specks 
in the bottom, when noting the effects in the morning 
which had been produced by the flowing waters during 
the night previous. 

On the morning of the 19th day of January, 1848, 
after the water had been turned off by shuttmg down 
the head gate, Marshall and Peter Wimmer were 
walking leisurely along the tail race of the mill, where 
the water had run all night, and washed away all the 
loose dirt dug up by the men the day before. Marshall 
observed a shining specimen lying on a flat rock close 
to the side of the race. Picking it up, turning it over 
in his hands, it required no great stretch of imagination 
to consider it a very remarkable representation of the 
"Bear" which had adorned the flag he had lately 
helped to raise as an emblem of California independence. 
The specimen at the time attracted his attention more 
because of its pecuhar shape and queer likeness to a 
bear, than for its probable value. Handing it to Wim- 
mer, he said, '' What do you think of that ?" Peter took 
it in his hand and felt its weight, and said, " That must 
be gold, I would take my pay in that metal." He became 
convinced that what his wife had so often said must be 
true ; that the specks of bright metal that they had so 
often seen were gold. 

Jennie had prepared to make a kettle of soap that 
day, and the two men had fixed her kettle of \^q on 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 73 

the fire before they left the cabin. Marshall says, 
" Well Peter, we will send that to Jennie, and let her 
boil it in her soap kettle all day. and see if it will tarnish 
it." Thus agreed they sent it to Jennie by Wimmer's 
boy. She threw it in the soap kettle after declaring 
positively " that it was gold," and there it remained for 
the day. 

Her positiveness did not impress any of the men 
present with a belief that gold existed there. What 
could a woman know about such matters ? Even her 
husband believed with the others that it was " fool's 
gold " or possibly copper. No inquiry was made about 
the specimen until next morning at breakfast. Then 
several jokes were sprung upon her. She was asked 
what kind of soap her gold made ? Would it do away 
with the necessity of grease in soap making ? If so, 
there was plenty more out therein the sand and gravel. 

Then Jennie went for her kettle, and pouring the 
soap into a trough, made by hollowing out the stump 
of a tree, at the bottom of the kettle she found this 
beautiful nugget, polished bright by the action of the 
lye. Seizing it, she sprang into the cabin, threw it on 
the table before her husband and Marshall, shouting 
aloud, as she had from the first, "there is your nugget, 
and it is j)ure gold. " 

Peter Wimmer was now fully converted to his wife's 
belief that gold was there. The others admitted that 
it might be gold. Marshall was reticent in expression, 
but seemed deeply impressed with the possibility that 
it might, indeed, be gold. Other small nuggets were 
collected, and four or five days after, James W. Mar- 
shall took them all with him to Fort Sutter, where 
other matters called him. 



74 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Tests at the fort proved that it was really gold, and 
Capt. Sutter accompanied him to Coloma on his return. 
Upon their arrival at the cabin, the news of the test 
brought great joy to the little band and especially to 
Jennie, who felt that she was thus thoroughly vindi- 
cated in her convictions, and many hearty eulogies were 
passed upon her that evening. As she spread the 
table and loaded it with the best of everything in camp 
to eat, Marshall handed her the nugget she had thus 
tested in her kettle of soap, and says, *' here Jennie ; 
this will make you a nice ring, and it shall be yours." 
Jennie kept it with a woman's care, and always took 
great pride in showing the first nugget of gold found 
in California. 

The number of whites engaged in the mill when gold 
was discovered was thirteen, including Mrs. Wimraer. 
None of those who were first in the field, were ever 
very wealthy, and not one had the ability to retain a 
sufficiency of what he did make, to render his old age 
comfortable. Only two are left, Henry W. Bigler 
and Azariah Smith, Mormons, and they are residing in 
Utah. Here is a fact for those who credit the super- 
stition in regard to the number " 13." The mill was 
completed and furnished the lumber for making the 
rockers to mine with, and cabins for the miners, as they 
arrived and located claims or engaged in trading. 

James W. Marshall was not a success as a miner. 
In fact, he was not a success at anything. He tried to 
be independent, and was no doubt governed to an ex- 
tent by pride, and a feeling that he had not been ap- 
preciated by the men who had become immensely rich 
through the means he had discovered. He had real 
grievances, due almost entirely to some quality want- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 75 

ing in himself. He was never prosperous. In 1877, the 
legislature of California voted him a pension of $1,200 
per year to continue for four years. In 1887 $5,000 
was appropriated for a monument, and this was erected 
on Marshall Hill, overlooking the point where the first 
nugget was discovered, and was unveiled May 3, 1890. 

James W. Marshall died alone in his cabin at Kelsey's 
Diggings, Eldorado county, in 1885, with not enougli 
wealth to defray the expenses of his simple burial. We 
have no desire to detract anything from the credit due 
him. He picked up the first nugget of gold in Cali- 
fornia. It is certain that this find would have 
amounted to nothing at the time, and possibly not for 
years, had it not been supplemented and rendered 
effective by Mrs. Wimmer, 

We intend to make no apology for the niggardliness 
of the State and National governments, which gave no 
appropriate recognition of the actors who were the 
means of bringing the most unparalleled prosperity 
known since the world began , nor has there been an- 
other instance where the Kation has so utterly ignored 
persons through whom such great services to humanity 
have been rendered. The service and the neglect are 
alike phenomenal. Such honor as has been accorded 
to James W. Marshall came after it could not gratify 
him, and the California Gold Book is the first to give 
the true story of Jennie Wimmer's connection with the 
great discovery. Indeed, most of the pretended histo- 
rians fail to spell her name correctly, and some would 
deny her any credit upon the strength of statements 
made by a couple of Mormons, who did not attempt to 
veil their feelings of animosity against this true Ameri- 
can woman. 



76 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

CHAPTER XI. 

*•' THE WOMAN WHOM THOU GAYEST." 

"We have asserted that Mrs. Jennie Wimmer was 
the direct instrument in giving to the world the mil- 
lions of gold recovered from the gravels and rocks of 
California, and for all that has been mined in the 
Australasian colonies as well. This we have proved as 
to California, and it now behooves us to make proof of 
the rest of our claim. 

\xv 1788 a convict in New South "Wales reported that 
he had picked up a nugget of gold, and the vast quan- 
tities found more than fifty years later renders his 
claim more than probably true. A guard was sent 
with him to verify his story and he failed to find any 
more. As an example and warning to other convicts 
who might be inclined to seek favor by such means, 
the unfortunate man was given one hundred and fifty 
lashes on the bare back. At other times, as convic^^s 
were opening roadways, pieces of gold were picked up. 
For some reason, wholly incomprehensible, no use was 
made of these constantly occurrmg finds, and no effort 
to learn whether gold existed in the country in paying 
quantities; but, on the contrary, as stated by Mr. Har- 
graves, every convict road maker who was so unfor- 
tunate as to " find a lump of the precious metal was 
instantly punished." The mystery of the existence of 
such vast quantities of gold in a country examined by 
geologists, and cultivated by civilized people, with- 
out any one suspecting its plentifulness, is no longer a 
mystery. Since the first nugget was picked up by the 
convict near Port Jackson in 1788, the excuse of "dis- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. Tl 

ciplining the convicts " made a severe whipping the 
certain and only reward for finding gold. 

In 1827 Mr. E. H. Hargraves was in New South 
Wales, and resided there almost continuously for the 
next twenty-two years. He was not an educated geol- 
ogist or mineralogist, but he was a close observer of 
nature. In his journeying through the unsettled por- 
tions of the colony he took particular note of the char- 
acter of soil and rock, but without any view to the dis- 
covery of minerals. 

In 1830 a piece of gold, several ounces in weight, 
was found near the Fish river, by a man in the employ 
of a Mr. Low. It does not appear that he was flogged 
for finding it, neither is there any record that any sys- 
tematic effort was made to discover its origin. 

In 1835, a shepherd named Macgregor found quartz 
containing mineral, and which he sold in Sydney, find- 
ing it to be gold. After that once in each year, on his 
visit to Sydney, he would take with him specimens of 
gold-bearing quartz which he had found in the Well- 
ington district. He sold the small quantities he found 
to a man named Cohen, who transferred it to a jeweler 
to make up in goods ordered by his customers. 

In 1839, Count Streleczki, an eminent geologist, 
made a careful geological examination of the identical 
territory v;hich afterwards became the richest gold 
fields in Australia. He collected a large number of 
samples of rock and quartz, and these were submitted 
to Sir K. Murchison, who compared them with the 
gold-bearing rocks of the Ural mountains, and in 1844 
the latter published his opinion that " gold must exist 
ill A^ustralia," and in 1846 before the Royal Geological 
Society of Cornwall, he urged tlie superabundant corn- 



78 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

ish tin miners to emigrate to New South Wales, and 
there obtain gold tiom the alluvial soil. 

In 1841, Rev. W. B. Clarke was makmg a geological 
survey for the colony. He picked up a piece of quartz 
containing gold, as he afterwards testified, and the 
weight of one specimen was about a penny-weight ; it 
was what might be termed a fair sample. That bit of 
quartz was found at the head of the Winburndale val- 
Ly and in the granite westward and of the Yale of 
Clwyd. 

In 1846, a very considerable piece of gold was 
brought to the notice of the colonial government by a 
Mr. Smith, who demanded an " adequate reward " for 
his discovery. Investigation proved that a shepherd 
had found the lump of gold by accident, and after- 
wards sold it to a Mr. Troppet, who sold it to Mr. 
Smith, and none of the parties could indicate whence 
the gold came with any degree of definiteness. 

This was the true state of knowledge about gold in 
Australia, when news of the discovery of gold in Cali- 
fornia reached the Australian colonies. At first it was 
not believed to have any foundation in truth. The 
news created no unusual excitement until a vessel from 
California arrived in Sydney having twelve hundred 
ounces of gold on board. Then every one went wild. 
The Mr. Hargraves we have named had been in hard 
luck most of the twenty-two years he had spent in the 
colony, and the great mass of the inhabitants com- 
plained of the same kind of experience. Conclusive 
evidence that there was gold in California, a place of 
which not one of them had any previous knowledge, 
except that it was somewhere across the sea, set all the 
adventurous spirits crazy vvith excitement. In July, 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 79 

1849, the British barque Elizabeth Archer sailed 
with 168 passengers, eight of whom were cabin pas- 
sengers, and one of the latter was E. H. Hargraves, the 
keen observer of rocks and soil. At the end of seventy- 
eight days the Archer cast anchor in San Francisco, 
and as soon as possible passengers and crew were off to 
the mines, every one of them deserting the barque the 
night of her arrival. In this chapter we have nothing 
to do with the vascillating fortunes of the miners. As 
soon as Hargraves and the eight others who had joined 
fortunes with him got a location, they tried recovering 
gold by washing the gravel in pans. This method was 
unsatisfactory, and they bought a second-hand rocker 
which had been introduced by the " Georgia miner," 
no other than our friend Jennie "Wimraer. Even then, 
without special instruction as to its use, "eight of us 
worked hard the whole day, and returned to our tent 
at night, covered with mud from head to foot, with the 
scanty earnings of twelve shillings, or eighteen pence 
each." When posted as to how they worked the cradle 
in Georgia, they wxre rewarded with an average of six 
dollars a day to the man. 

But the rocks and the soil had a more startling effect 
on Hargraves than present success or failure. " My 
attention," he says, " was naturally drawn to the form 
and geological structure of the surrounding country ; 
and it soon struck me that I had some eighteen years 
before traveled through a country very similar to the 
one I was now in. In New South Wales, isaid to my- 
self, there are the same class of rocks, slates, quartz, 
granite and soil, and every thing else that appears 
necessary to constitute a gold field. Hargraves under- 
took to argue his companions into a belief that there 



80 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

might be gold in Australia. He was laughed at, and 
told that many trained geologists had passed over those 
fields, and if gold was there some of these men whose 
business it was to read the rocks and reveal the secrets 
they contained must inevitably have discovered it. 
Thus Hargraves secured no sympathizers in his hopes ; 
nevertheless, nothing disheartened, on March 5, 1850, 
he wrote to S. Peck, a merchant of Sydney : 

" I am very forcibly impressed that I have been in a 
gold region in New South "Wales, within 300 miles of 
Sydney ; and unless you knew how to find it, you 
itiigld live for a century in its region and know nothing 
of its existence.''^ 

It will be noticed that he gives Mr. Peck no idea of 
the direction of the supposed gold region from Sydney 
nor its distance, only that it was within "• 300 miles." 
Till the following November Mr. Haroraves engaffed 
in mining, and did as well as a reasonable man could 
hope to. " But the greater our success was," he writes, 
" the more anxious did I become to put my own per- 
suasion of the existence of gold in New South Wales to 
the test. In a few days afterward I set sail for Port 
Jackson in the barque Emma, Captain Devlin, bent 
on making that discovery which had so long occupied 
my thoughts, and reached the place early in January, 
1851." 

Mr. Hargraves says : " The Georgia miner taught the 
people in the first instance how to obtain the gold by 
washing, but for which in all probability, notwitn- 
standing what had been found of it, the story of its 
discovery might have passed away and become an idle 
tale, like that of the shepherd who found gold near 
Wellington, in New South Wales, thirteen years 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 81 

before ; for neither Captain Sutter nor Mr, Marshall 
kuew how to obtain it, except by picking it up with 
their fingers." 

Mr. Hargraves says that it was with an anxious heart 
that he landed in Sydney, in January, 1851. He felt 
positive that there were rich placer mines in New South 
Wales, and he had expressed this earnest belief to 
every friend and acquaintance since his first experience 
in the mines of California. From not a single one had 
he received any encouragement, and from most jeers 
and indirect insult, 

February 5th he set out on horse-back for the point 
where he intended to make his first explorations. 
February 10th, he reached Guyong. There he received 
his first words of encouragement, and they were from 
a woman. Mrs. Lister was the keeper of the hotel. She 
was a lady of refinement, and was forced into such an 
occupation by reverses of fortune. As Mr. Hargraves 
required a guide, it became necessary to inform Mrs. 
Lister of the object of his visit. She entered into the 
scheme with enthusiasm, and sent her young son to 
show him the most direct route to the points he wished 
to reach. Fifteen miles from Guyong, February 12, 
1851, Mr. Hargraves washed his first pan of dirt, found 
gold, and in his excitement, said to his young guide : 
" This is a remarkable day in the history of New 
South Wales. I shall be a baronet, you shall be knighted, 
and my old horse will be stuffed, put in a glass case, 
and sent to the British Museum." On returning to 
the Inn that night, Mrs. Lister rejoiced with Hargraves 
on his fortunate discovery. 

From Guyong Mr. Hargraves proceeded to the Wel- 
lington district, where the sheepherder Macgregor, 



82 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

had found the gold. There his friend, a Mr. Cruik- 
shank, had settled. He was a man of prominence and 
intelligence. Without absolutely discrediting the 
reports of Hargraves, his friend tried to dissuade him 
from wasting his time in a hopeless enterprise. Not 
so Mrs. Cruikshank. She was sanguine that he would 
succeed. Almost at their very door a pan of dirt was 
taken, and on washing it, gold was discovered. Again 
his only encouragement came from a woman, and she 
declared her intention of continuing to explore the 
sands until she had procured gold enough to make 
all the rings required to satisfy her pardonable vanity, 

Mr. Hargraves had an idea that the Crown ought to 
liberally reward the first practical discoverer of 
gold. To the end that he might obtain such reward, 
he returned to Sidney. The colonial secretary was a 
Mr. Deal Thomson. To him Hargraves reported at 
once, showing him a quantit}" of fine gold which he 
had washed from the sands on the Crown lands. Mr. 
Thomson doubted the truth of the story, remarking 
" That it was very strange the government geologist 
had not found it, if it existed in natural deposit." He 
said further: " If this is a gold country, Mr. Hargraves, 
it would stop the home government from sending us 
any more convicts, and prevent emigration to Cal- 
ifornia ; but it comes on us like a clap of thunder, and 
we are scarcely prepared to credit it." 

The next day, April 3, 1851, Mr. Hargraves made 
the following proposition to the colonial secretary : 

•' I have the honor to submit, for the early consider- 
ation of the government, the following propositions: 
That if it should please the government to award to me, 
in the first instance, the sum of £500 as a compensa- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 88 

tion, I would point out the localities to any officer or 
officers they may appoint, and would undertake to rea- 
lize to the government my representations, and would 
leave it to the generosity of the government, after the 
importance of my discoveries and disclosures have 
been ascertained, to make me an additional reward 
commensurate witii the benefit likely to accrue to the 
government and the country." 

April 15th the colonial secretary sent Mr. Har- 
o^raves the followino^ answer: 

" In reply to your letter of the 3rd inst., I am direc- 
ted by the governor to inform you that his excellency 
cannot say more at present than that the remuneration 
for the discovery of gold on Crown land, referred to by 
you, must depend upon its nature and value when 
made known, and be left to the liberal consideration 
which the government will be disposed to give it." 

Before leaving thymines to serve notice of discovery 
upon the colonial government, and try to make terms 
with it, Mr. Hargraves had shown how to construct 
and use the cradle introduced into California by Jennie 
Wimmer. When he got back to the mines some ten 
thousand pounds of gold had been taken out where he 
first discovered it by the few who had heard of the 
discovery, and the news of it was spreading on the 
wings of the wind. Later Mr. Hargraves was awarded 
ten thousand pounds sterling by the government, and 
many valuable presents of plate and jewelry by firms, 
clubs and individuals. He was also appointed commis- 
sioner of crown land, at a salary of twenty shillings 
per diem. In 1854 he published " Australia and its 
Gold Fields," which had a good sale. He was after- 
ward ''uighted and pensioned for life. 



84 CALIFORNIA COLD BOOK. 

Considering the vast amounts of treasure recovered 
from the rocks and valleys of the Australian colonies, 
and the fact that it was directly due to the discoveries 
made by E. H. Hargraves, his reward would seem 
insignificant, though much superior to anything ten- 
dered the discoverers of gold in California, to which 
all the gold discovered since 1848 is almost directly 
attributable. Yet Mr, Hargraves bears testimony to 
the encouragement he received from Mrs. Lister and 
Mrs. Cruikshank, and gives only the proper credit to 
the " Georgia miner," who was none other than Mrs. 
Jennie Wimmer. Thus, ridicule it as man may, to the 
"woman whom Thou gavest" is Christianity, civiliza- 
tion and commerce indebted for the wonderful impetus 
given them by the discovery of gold in California, and 
not less that which took place with the discovery of 
gold in the Australasian colonies. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

GOLD. 

" The love of money is the root of all evil." " Gold 
is the mother of all good." This apparent paradox 
takes nothing from the absolute truth of each state- 
ment. Love of money, and the wise expenditure of 
wealth, have nothing in common. Tracing the animal 
man back through the ages, his grandest achievements 
and his highest development are found in close prox- 
imity to a gold mine. Earely has a nation been prom- 
inent in art and science, and the results of civilization, 
which has not had stores of the yellow metal to draw 
upon, and in those rare exceptions the people had 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 85 

invaded the strongholds of other nations, and carried 
off the gold accumulated by them during centuries. 
The Temple at Jerusalem would never have been 
rebuilt, had not Solomon been able to draw upon the 
mines of Ophir. The golden sands from the blackness 
in " darkest Africa " have shed a blessed light over the 
people of the earth, and there can be no renewal of the 
sad scenes comprised in the centuries of " Dark Ages," 
unless again gold becomes almost unknown among 
men. In all the past, when civilization and progress 
seemed subsiding into the gloomy unknown, it is a fact 
that the known veins of precious metal had given out, 
and no new ones were being discovered. New gold 
fields would light afresh the fires of Christian zeal and 
philanthropy, and thereupon the sun would shine with 
new brilliancy in the firmament over human advance- 
ment. God will never close His ears and eyes utterly 
to the wants of men. When progress is threatened 
with complete stoppage, then the beneficent finger 
points out the means for its revival, and humanity 
moves on to the higher and happier plane. 

Gold was not abundant in 1848. The world needed 
a new supply. Tlie census returns of the living nations 
indicated a far more rapid increase in population than 
in the gold that would be needed to meet expanding 
requirements. The discovery came exactly at the right 
time, and the flow was so abundant that for a time 
gold was the cheapest known commodity in California, 
and later, in the gold producing localities of the Aus- 
tralasian colonies. In some places lumber was sold by 
the pound, and fifty cents per pound at that; flour at 
three dollars per pound, and other things in proportion. 
The times were financially unhealthy, and always are 



86 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

when life's necessities cost anything approaching their 
weight in gold. Equally at outs are the times when 
only labor is cheap. 

Gold was discovered at Coloma, January 10, 1848. 
So doubtful was Marshall of the value of his discovery 
that he made no effort to prove that it was gold he had 
found for several days after. It was forty miles to 
Sutter Fort, and a test could not be made nearer. As 
he had not been at the Fort for some time, he made a 
trip required by other matters, and in no degree influ- 
enced by the specimens of metal carried in his pocket. 
This fact is important as showing that only Jennie 
Wimmer had confidence in the value of the metal. 
There are other facts which appear peculiar at this 
distance from the discovery. Not later than the first 
week in February, Captain Sutter and Marshall were 
back at the mill, and the discovery of gold was made 
known to all the men. The "Georgia miner" had 
superintended the construction and operating of rockers. 
Gold was being secured in quantity. Considerable was 
soon after sent to San Francisco, and went as low as $4 
per ounce in exchange for supplies. Early in May the 
editor of the California Star went to the mines. 
presumably to gather facts of interest to his readers. 
He announced in his paper on May 6th, that he had re- 
turned, and on May 20th noticed the departure of a 
fleet of launches, " laden with superlatively silly people '' 
on their way to the mines. Prospects, four months 
after the discovery, were of small moment, or facts 
were being withheld from the public for some inconceiv- 
able reason by Marshall and Captain Sutter, but the 
news was spread abroad with astounding celerity, and it 
was accepted at its full value by men of a class having no 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 87 

superiors. In every city in the north and south of 
America, companies were organized, and in many cases 
incorporated, for the development of mines in the far 
West, By the spring of 1849, more than thirty thou- 
sand brave and ambitious men had rendezvoused at 
Independence, Mo., Leavenworth, Kansas, St. Joseph, 
Mo., and Council Bluffs, la., ready to attack the mys- 
teries of the plains as soon as vegetation began to 
send forth green shoots. Ninety -nine in every hundred 
of these would-be gold hunters had enjoyed the privi- 
leges of enlightened Christian homes. The great 
majority of them were not "crossing the Rubicon;" 
were not going away to stay, and had no call to " burn 
their bridges behind them," as do desperate men who 
have declared war against morals and society, and are 
traveling under a banner inscribed " The world owes 
me a living." In a word, there never was a more 
patriotic and order-loving set of men engaged in any 
enterprise since the world began than the Argonauts 
of 1849, who had temporarily severed home ties, 
and from whose numbers come the members of the 
California pioneer class, be they scattered where they 
may to-day. It is not to the acts of men gathered 
from cultivated homes in the United States, or else- 
where, that the necessity for vigilance committees or 
the services of Judge Lynch originated. At first Cali- 
fornia had to receive all that came from the ends of the 
earth, no matter how* desperate or depraved. A year 
or so later it could divide these undesirable characters 
with Victoria and New South Wales, and rejoice in the 
relief from the presence of numbers of the desperately 
bad, as well as the golden prosperity of the Australa- 
sian colonies. 



88 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

It is not our purpose to attempt a detail of the 
production of any camp in the State of California or 
on the Pacific coast. There is no day that we are not 
told substantially, " that the discoveries of 1848 were 
not specially important. If Marshall and his associates 
had not discovered gold, others would soon have done 
so." This is rather an unmanly way of shirking the 
responsibility which must ever attach to those who 
shared the blessings resulting from the discovery of 
gold, and yet ignored the claims of James W. Marshall 
and Jennie Wimraer until their cares and troubles were 
buried in the grave. The English government re- 
warded Hargraves generously immediately after his 
experience in California mines enabled him to point 
out the unsuspected wealth hidden in the sands of New 
South Wales, and the other Australasian colonies. 
Later, when his investments had proven his want of 
business judgment, and he was threatened with want, 
that government gave him a pension for his lifetime, 
and those who became prosperous through his discover- 
ies were exceedingly generous in their treatment of 
him. That is in marked contrast with the treatment 
accorded by the government and the great army of 
private beneficiaries to Marshall and Jennie Wimmer. 
No care was taken to provide for the old age and 
necessities of either, and the small sums given them 
were tendered as charity, and not as benefits they had 
earned a thousand times over. It was in consequence 
of such neglect, and the actual want of Mrs. Wimmer, 
and her equally infirm husband, that the first nugget 
of gold discovered passed into the hands of W. W. 
Allen in 1877, and was used by him with the National 
and State governments, and prominent pioneers, in vain 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 89 

efforts to obtain help for them. The genuineness of 
the nugget and the justness of the claims were 
acknowledged, but assistance was studiously withheld. 

Surely these apologists for unparalleled neglect have 
never attempted to form an estimate of what the dis- 
covery of gold in California, and in Australia, winch 
really hinged upon that, has accomplished for human- 
ity. Ten years after the mines of California and 
Australia had begun to pour the golden current into 
the channels of trade the world over, the life of the 
American Nation was attempted by the most for- 
midable and well organized force of brave and deter- 
mined men who ever rebelled against a parent gov- 
ernment. But for the prosperity and strength born of 
the addition of California and Australian gold to the 
wealth of the world, the United States would have been 
dismembered, and the ability of man for self-govern- 
ment would have become a matter of grave doubt 
among patriots. A little later war occurred between 
France and Germany, and the awful destruction of 
life and property, consequent upon active war, was cut 
short because one of the contesting parties could pay 
a war indemnity of one thousand millions of dollars in 
gold, a feat which would have been impossible for the 
combined nations of the globe prior to January 19, 1848. 

In 1848 there were not more than two men in the 
United States reputedly worth as much as $1,000,000 
each. To-day there are more than one hundred men 
and women in the single city of San Francisco who 
are individually worth more than that, and from 
seven to ten thousand in the United States ; and it is 
not a rarity for single benevolent individuals to give 
from a quarter of a million up to found a college or 



90 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

university, or spend that much in some other direction 
for the improvement of mankind. In the same ratio 
has been the advances in science, manufactures, culti- 
vation of soil, production of lands, culture of minds^ 
prosperity of communities, conveniences of travel, 
intercourse of peoples, and ease and comfort in which 
men and women live. These advantages are not all 
confined to the limits of the United States, though far 
more evenly distributed among her citizens than 
elsewhere. 

The early miners of California depended entirely 
upon placer mining, or gold found in the sand and 
gravel along streams and gulches, or where the surface 
had been washed down from the mountains and deposi- 
ted on the flats for ages. For the first few years after 
the discovery there was no quartz mining. Even in 
1850 it was estimated that only $40,000 was invested 
in quartz mining machinery in the whole State. The 
following is a list of the nuggets found, so far as 
known, which produced gold up into the thousands in 
value: 

California has yielded many large and beautiful 
" nuggets " of gold, but for the size of her chunks of 
o-old, Australia leads the world, at least in modern 
times, and there is no record of the big finds of the 
miners of ancient times in the nugget line. Though 
California has not produced very many nuggets of the 
great size of a few of the largest found in Australia, 
she has yielded an immense number of very large 
" chunks" of gold and of pieces of curious and beautiful 
shapes, treasured by miners as "specimens", and of 
larger sizes than the pieces called "chispas." Indeed, 
California ranks as a coarse gold region, coarse gold 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 91 

being found in almost every camp in the state, whereas 
in many countries, even in most all other places in the 
United States, nearly all the gold found is in the shape 
of fine dust or very small grains. 

The first big lumps of gold found in California crea- 
ted great excitement among the miners. They at 
once began picturing in imagination masses of gold 
larger than could be lifted by a dozen men. It was 
a common camp-fire amusement. There were afloat 
stories of men sitting down to starve by huge golden 
boulders rather than risk leaving their finds to go in 
search of transportation facilities. 

The first nuo:ffet of sufficient size to create more than 
a mere local sensation was found by a young man who 
was a soldier in Stevenson's regiment. It is related that 
he found it in the Mokelumne river while in the act of 
taking a drink from the stream. The nugget weighed 
nearly twenty-five pounds. The finder at once hasten. 
ed to San Francisco with his prize, where he placed it 
in the hands of Colonel Mason for safe keeping. The 
big lump was sent to New York, and placed on exhi- 
bition. It created a furor and was probably the cause 
of many a man striking out for California. 

The laro^est mass of o;old ever found in California 
was that dug out at Carson Hill, Calaveras county, in 
1854. It weighed 195 pounds. Other lumps weigh- 
ing several pounds were found at the same place. 

August 18, 1860, W. A. Farish and Harrv "Warner 
took from the Monumental quartz mine, Sierra county, 
a mass of gold and quartz weighing 133 pounds. It 
was sold to R. B. Woodward, of San Francisco, for S21, 
635.52. It was exhibited at Woodward's gardens for 
some time, then was melted down. It yielded gold 
to the value of 817,654.94. 



9S CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

August 4, 185o, Ira A. Willard found on the West 
branch of Feather river a nugget weighing fifty-four 
pounds avoirdupois before, and 49|^ pounds after 
melting. 

A nugget dug at Kelsey, El Dorado county, was 
sold for $4,700. In 1864 a nugget was found in the 
Middle fork of the American river two miles from 
Michigan Bluff, that weighed eighteen pounds, ten 
ounces, and was sold for $4,204 by the finder. 

In 1850 at Corona, Tuolumne county, was found a 
gold quartz nugget which weighed 151 pounds 6 ounces. 
Half a mile east of Columbia, Tuolumne county, near 
the Knapp ranch, a Mr. Strain found a nugget which 
weighed 50 pounds avoirdupois. It yielded $8,500 
when melted. In 1849 was found in Sullivan's creek, 
Tuolumne county, a gold brick that weighed twenty- 
eight pounds avoirdupois. 

In 18T1 a nugget was found in Kanaka creek. Sierra 
county, that weighed nmety-eight pounds. At Rattle- 
snake creek, the same year, a nugget weighing 106 
pounds 2 ounces, was found. A quartz boulder found 
in French gulch. Sierra county, in 1851, yielded $8,000 
in gold. 

In 1867 a boulder of gold quartz was found at Pilot 
Hill, El Dorado county, that yielded $8,000 when 
worked up. It was found in what was known as the 
"Boulder" claim, from which many smaller gold 
quartz nuggets have been taken at various times. 

Some years ago a Frenchman found a nugget of 
almost pure gold, worth over $5,000, in Spring gulch, 
Tuolumne county. The next day the man became 
insane. He was sent to the Stockton asylum, and the 
nugget was forwarded to the French consul, in San 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 93 

Francisco, who sent its value to the finder's family in 
France. 

in 1854, a mass of gold was found at Columbia, 
Tuolumne, weighing thirty pounds, and yielded $6,625. 
A Mr, Yirgin found at Gold Hill in the same county 
a boulder that weighed thirty -one pounds eight ounces, 
and when melted yielded $6,500. A gold quartz boul- 
der found at Minnesota, Sierra county, weighed twenty- 
two pounds and two ounces and yielded $5,000. 

In 1850 a nugget was found at French gulch, in the 
same county, that weighed twenty-one pounds and 
eleven ounces, and contained gold to the value of $4,893. 
In 1876, J. D. Colgrove, of Dutch Flat, Placer county, 
found a white quartz boulder in the Polar Star Hydraul- 
ic claim from which he obtained gold to the value of 
$5,760. 

At the Monumental quartz mine. Sierra county, in 
1869, was found a mass of gold that weighed 95 pounds, 
6 ounces. It was found in decomposed quartz at a 
depth of 25 feet below the surface. This was the only 
" pay " found in that particular part of the mine. All 
the auriferous energy of the vein at that point seemed 
to have been concentrated in the one nuoget. 

In 1855 a nugget weighing sixt}'- pounds was found 
at Alleghanytown, Sierra county. It was a mass of 
gold taken from a quartz vein. Several other large 
"chunks" were taken from the same mine — lumps of 
nearly pure gold, weighing from one to ten or twelve 
pounds. Those masses of gold were dug by Frank 
Cook (afterward city marshal of Marysville) and 
others, his partners. 

In 1851, a Mr. Chapman and others flumed a set of 
claims on the middle Yuba. When the water was 



d4 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

turned from the river into the flume, about the first 
thing seen in the exposed end of the channel was a 
horseshoe-shaped mass of pure gold, which weighed 
twenty-eight pounds. This was a very handsome 
" showy " nugget. It was sold to Major Jack Strat- 
man, of San Francisco. 

The Sailor diggings on the North fork of the Yuba, 
just below the south of Sailor ravine, about three miles 
from Downieville, were wonderfully rich in nuggets. 
The diggings were owned and worked by a party of 
Encjlish sailors in 1851. In their claim the sailors 
found a nugget of pure gold that weighed thirty-one 
pounds. They also foand a great number of nuggets 
weighing from five to fifteen pounds. The party all 
left together for England. They took with them all the 
nuggets they found, both great and small. The}'' were 
carried in two canvas sacks, the weight being too great 
to be conveniently handled in one sack. When the 
party reached England, they, for a considerable time, 
made a business of exhibiting their collection of nug- 
gets, and various fancy specimens, in all the large 
towns and cities, thus infecting great numbers of 
people with the gold-digging fever, for just at that 
time came the world startling news of the great gold 
discoveries made in February of that year in Australia. 

In Frencli ravine. Sierra county, 1855, there was 
found in the claim of a Missourian named Smith 
a double nugget of about pure gold. The larger of 
the two nuggets weighed fifty pounds, and connected 
with it by a sort of neck was a lump of gold weighing 
fifteen pounds. In taking out the nugget the two 
were broken apart. The large nugget yielded $10,000 
and the small one $3,000. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 95 

In September, 1850, B. F. Wardell, now in Virginia 
City, found in Mad canyon, on the Middle fork of the 
American river, a nugget of solid gold weighing six 
pounds. The nugget had in it a round hole and the 
finder made use of it in his cabin as a candlestick. 
It was doubtless the most valuable candlestick on the 
Pacific coast. After the nugget had been thus used 
so long that it was covered with candle grease, the 
owner sold it, grease and all. 

In the early days of placer mining in Cahfornia 
colored miners were proverbially lucky. Companies 
of white men were always ready to take in a colored 
r^an as a partner, believing that he would bring them 
good luck. Steve Gillis, of Virginia, Nev., a veteran 
printer and pioneer of the Pacific coast, gives the fol- 
lowing sample of '* nigger luck :" " In 1863 a colored 
miner, who was out on a prospecting trip, found on 
the slope of the Table mountain, Tuolumne county 
a nugget that weighed thirty -five pounds avoirdupois, 
and yielded over $7,000. The nugget was found on 
the slope where Table mountain drifts down towards 
Sha's Flat. The man saw a corner of it sticking out 
of the ground, and digging ii up be planted it in a new 
place near by, marking the spot, and continued on his 
way to his intended prospecting ground. He did not 
take up a claim where he found the nugget, as he 
believed it to have rolled down from some point high 
up on Table mountain. He found such good pay in 
the place he went to prospect that he remained there 
at work for several Aveeks, feeling quite at ease 
in regard to the big nugget he had cached. Finally 
he quit work in his digging, and set out to look for his 
big nugget. On coming in sight of the spot where he 



96 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

had buried it, he almost dropped in his tracks, for he 
saw a big company of men at work just where he had 
made his '* plant." The men proved to be a lot of 
Italians, and they had worked up to within about ten 
feet of the spot where lay buried the big nugget. For- 
tunately the " colored brother " had with him on that 
trip his " rabbit foot," for the " rescue " was about as 
fortunate as the " find." 

In a drift mine at Remington hill, Nevada county, 
in 1856, the half of a smoothly washed boulder of 
gold quartz was found which yielded $4,672.50. The 
nugget was smooth on all rounded sides, but had on 
one side a fiat, rough surface. At the time the chunk 
was found it was remarked that the other half of the 
boulder might possibly be somewhere in the same 
claim. In 1858 the owners of the mine had a hired 
man who was engaged in drifting out pay dirt. One 
day this man unexpectedly announced that he was 
going to leave ; that he was going down to Nevada 
City to try his luck for a time. The man was paid his 
wages, and, shouldering his blankets, took his depar- 
ture. After he had been gone a short time, one of 
the partners said : " It is strange that the fellow should 
all at once quit work here, when he had a steady job at as 
good wages as he can find anywhere in the country. I 
wonder if he has not found the other half of that 
boulder ?" The party addressed scouted the idea. 

" You may laugh," said the suspicious partner, " but 
I feel in my bones that the fellow is packing the miss- 
ing half of that boulder away in his own roll of 
blankets." 

"Well, what are you going to do about it ? " 

" I am going to mount a horse and follow the fellow. 



CALIFORNIA GO'LD BOOK. ■ 97 

I am going to make him shell out that chunk of 
gold." 

" So ? Very well ; you shall have my half of all you 
get." 

Mounting his horse, the man who had "suspicions" 
took the road to Nevada City with a sixshooter in his 
belt. When he overtook his man and asked him to 
throw down and open out his roll of blankets, the 
fellow was at first quite indignant and inclined to be 
ugly, but when he saw a revolver leveled at his head, 

he cried out : " Cave ; now, how in did you find 

out that I'd got hold of the other half of that nug- 
get?" 

"Guessed it," said the mine-owner. "Shell her 
out." 

Down went the blankets and out came a big golden 
nugget. Sure enough, it was the other half of the 
boulder. Taking the chunk the owner told the man to 
"git;" that as he had met with a great temptation 
he was forgiven. The half thus received panned out 
$4,430.75, making a total for the whole boulder of 
$9,103.25. The suspicious partner was very sick when 
he saw the missing half of the boulder brought home. 
How^ever, the other, after paying himself $1,000 for 
Lis trouble and his ability as a detective, divided the 
remainder with the man who had laughed at him in 
the start. He said he took only $20 for his trouble 
and risk ; but for his " sabe " he must have $980. 

Near Sonora, Tuolumne county, in 1852, a nugget 
weighing forty -five pounds, and containing gold to the 
value of about $8,000, was found. The finder had a 
friend who was far gone with consumption, yet was 
trying to work in the mines. The owner of the nugget 



98 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

saw lliat by working in the water, and lifting heavy 
boulders this man was fast killing himself. He told his 
friend to take the big nugget and go back to the States, 
and exhibit it, as at that time such a mass of native gold 
was a curiosity, to see which many would willingly 
pay a reasonable sum. As the ailing man was well 
educated, it was arranged that besides the nugget, he 
should take some fine dust "chispas," gold-bearing 
quartz, black sand, gravel and dirt from a placer, and 
the like, and with all was to fix up a lecture on life in 
the mines, mining operations, and California in general. 
When the owner of the nugget wanted it, or its value, 
he was to let the other know of his need. 

The sick man took the nugget to the States, got up 
his lecture, and did well wherever he went. For a 
time the miner heard from his friend pretty regularly ; 
then for months lost track of him. He began to think 
his nugget lost ; that perhaps his friend had been mur- 
dered and robbed in some out-of-the-way place. One 
day, however, a letter reached the miner from a banker 
in E"ew Orleans telling him that his friend had died in 
that city, but had left the big nugget at the bank sub- 
ject to his order. The miner wrote to have the nug- 
get melted down, and in due time he received a check 
for a little over $8,000. 

Pocket mining, as practiced b}'- the experts of Cali- 
fornia, is a branch of gold-hunting that may be said to 
stand by itself as an " art." The pocket miner follows 
up the trail of gold thrown off from a quartz vein, and 
strewn down a mountain slope, until he at last reaches 
the mother deposit, whence the gold scattered below 
proceeded. This is an operation which sometimes 
requires many days to be devoted to the careful wash- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 99 

ing of samples of dirt taken from the slope of the 
mountain. Many rich pockets have, however, been 
found by accident. One of the richest of the pocket 
mines in California had $10,000 thrown out at one 
blast. The gold so held the quartz together that it 
had to be cut apart with cold chisels. It is estimated 
that this mine yielded $2,800,000 in the years 1850 and 
1851, and new pockets have since been discovered 
almost yearly, somewhere in the peculiar formation at 
and about Carson Hill. 

The telluride veins of Sierra county, extending from 
Minnesota to the South Yuba, have been prolific of 
pockets. A big pocket found in the Fellows mine on 
this belt yielded $250,000. Many other pockets yield- 
ing from $5,000 to $50,000 have been found in this 
region. Many rich pockets have been found about 
Grass valley, Nevada county ; Auburn, Placer county, 
and Sonora, Tuolumne county. The " Reece pocket," 
Grass valley, contained $40,000. This sum was 
pounded out in a hand 'mortar in less than a month. 
Near Grass Valley, a pocket that yielded $60,000 was 
found by a sick pilgrim who was in search of health 
and knew nothing about mining. The " Green Emi- 
grant" pocket vein, near Auburn, was found by an 
emigrant who had never seen a mine. It yielded 
$160,000. This find was made within thirty yards of 
a road that had been traveled daily for twenty years. 
No more " pay " was found after the first pocket was 
worked. 

The "Devol" pocket in Sonora, alongside the main 

street of the town, owned by three men, yielded $200,- 

000 in 1879. It was nearly all taken out in three 

weeks. The " grit specimen," showing arburescent 

L.ofC. 



100 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

crystallization, sent to the Paris Exposition, was found 
in Spanish Diy Diggings, Eldorado county, weighed 
over twenty pounds, and contained over $-i,000 in gold. 
About $8,000 additional of the same kind of gold ci-ys- 
tals was taken from the same pocket. The formation 
at this place is slate, and a fine grained sandstone filled 
with crystals of iron pyrites in cubes. 

At an American camp between the forks of the 
Stanislaus, in 1880, LeEoy Reid found a pocket in the 
"grassroots," from which he took out $8,200. Near 
Magalia, Butte county, in 1879, a pocket paid its tinder 
$400 for two hours work. 

The above examples of the richness of the pockets 
often found in quartz veins must suffice. They were 
taken pretty much at random. A full history of the 
big "pocket finds" in California would make a large 
volume. 

Since the discovery of gold at Suffers Mill, Cali- 
fornia has yielded over $1,300,000,000 in that metal. 
How much exactly will never be known. The Chinese 
must have carried away an immense amount. In 1880 
the Government tried to make them report. From 
eighteen counties of the State there were partial 
reports. The amounts they acknowledged obtaining 
were upwards of $1,751,21:4 for that year alone. Those 
who know the Chinese miners know what kind of a 
report they would be likely to make. If they acknowl- 
edged securing $1,751,244 as late as in 1880, Avhat must 
have been obtained in all the years before, when all the 
places were new and prolific? 

Outside of California, few nuggets of note have been 
found in any of the Pacific Coast States and Terri- 
tories. The largest nugget ever found in Nevada was 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. lOl 

one taken out of the Osceola placer mine about twenty 
years ago. It weighed twenty-four pounds, and is 
supposed to have contained nearly $4,000 in gold. A 
hired man found and stole it, but repenting gave up 
to the owners in a month or two over $2,000 in small 
bars — all he had left of the big chunk. In the same 
mine about a year ago a nugget worth $2,190 was 
found. 

Montana's largest nugget was one found by Mr. Eis- 
ing, at Snow State gulch, on the little Blackfoot river. 
It was worth $3,356. It laid twelve feet below the 
surface, and about a foot above the bed-rock. 

Colorado's bio-o^est nugo:et was found at Brecken- 
ridge. It weighed thirteen pounds, but was mixed 
with lead carbonate and quartz. 

The pioneer nuggets in the United States were found 
in the placers of the Appalachian range of mountains, 
where gold was discovered as early as 1828. In Octo- 
ber, 1828, a negro found grains of fine gold in Bear 
Creek, Ga., but the discovery did not attract much 
attention. Presentl}^ the same negro found a nugget 
in the Nacoochee river worth several thousand dollars. 
This " find " started a gold hunting furor. Several 
other nuggets of considerable size have been found in 
Georgia at various times. 

The biggest nugget ever found in the Appalachian 
mining region was that at the Reed Mine in North 
Carolina. It weighed eighty pounds. 

In the same State some children, playing along a 
creek, found a nugget that weighed twelve pounds. 
The quartz veins of this region generally show a good 
deal of coarse gold, good-sized lumps, but seldom 
weighing as much as a pound. 



102 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOI\. 

The foregoing grouping of information as to nuggets 
found in California and elsewhere was made by Dan 
De Quille, an old and experienced journalist on the 
Pacific coast, for the San Francisco C'/'/vw/V/t, and is 
correct. 

Nearly all the counties in California contain mineral 
deposits of some kind, and the yield of gold is large. 
Various causes have operated to reduce the quantity, 
and especially that produced from placer and hydraulic 
mining. The beds of the ancient rivers have not been 
fully explored, but large cai)ital is required to uncover 
their hidden deposits. Even some places in the beds 
of the modern rivers, which used to yield enormously, 
are still very rich, but the courses of the waters will 
have to be changed into new channels, at great ex- 
pense, before the gravels can be examined. 

The mining industry presents many encouraging 
features, notwithstanding the sraallness of the output 
compared with the early days of its history. The 
difhculties between the hydraulic miners and the 
ranchers must be soon settled. There should be no 
antagonism between them. Their interests are closely 
interwoven. They cannot prosper without mutual 
encouragement. Invention will inaugurate methods 
for getting the buried riches from mountain and gulch 
without entailing injur}'^ upon the valleys. Then the 
output of gold will increase beyond anything known in 
the early days of mining, for the experience gained in 
all these years will be scientifically applied. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 108 

CHAPTER XIII. 

WONDERFUL PROGRESS OF FORTY-TWO YEARS. 

^EL NORTE is the northwestern most county in 
the State. Its early mining history is stained 
with blood. Three young men were prospecting on 
Klamath river in 1857. They were killed by the 
Indians, and their bodies horribly mutilated. The 
miners in the vicinity discovered an Indian village, and 
it is said killed every one it contained, without regard 
to sex or age, as a punishment for the triple murder. 

Happy Camp was the name given to the first resting 
place of the prospectors. They were sure that the 
Klamath river was rich in gold, but the best results 
were obtained from the beach sands in the early days. 
Some gold is still obtained from the black sands on the 
shores of the Pacific ocean. Rich quartz ledges have 
been discovered within a short time, and it is believed 
the product will be large. There are large deposits of 
chrome, copper and iron, but it costs too much for 
transportation to render the working of them profitable. 



f|ISKIYOU COUNTY adjoins Del Norte on the 
p east. The first miners to enter that country in 
1850-51 came into favor by claiming to be " Maki " men. 
A Scotch trapper, named Thomas McKay, had gained 
tlieir good will by just treatment in the trips he had 
made gathering furs for the Hudson Bay Company and 
they were friendly to any whites who looked like 
" Maki" as they pronounced his name. Donald McKay, 
who led the Warm Springs Indians in the Modoc war, 
was his son. 



104 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

The first strike of gold was on Yreka creek, in 1851, 
and the news of its richness spread throughout the 
State, and caused 2,000 miners to collect there in a 
very short time. Rich quartz ledges were discovered 
in the eastern part of the county, and many of the 
prospectors spread out into what is now Modoc and 
Lassen counties — indeed produced the formation and 
organization of Modoc county. 

The entrance of the Southern Pacific railroad was 
worth more to the county than its mines, though these 
had secured it its first settlers. For the past few years 
the increase in population and wealth has been very 
rapid. 

rarODOC COUNTY, meaning " hostile stranger," 



^^^ is the northeastern most county in the State. 
It never was prominent in a mining sense, but possesses 
enough natural wonders to attract the curious. The 
Modoc war of 1873 was confined to this county. The 
Modocs were always treacherous, and while Captain 
Jack lived, were destructive to the interests of white 
settlers. Every peaceful method was pursued to make 
them contented until General Canby was assassinated 
while having a talk with them. Then their punishment 
was determined upon, but as they knew all the intrica- 
cies of the mysterious lava beds, it was a long and 
tedious matter. Finally, Captain Jack, Chief Sconchin, 
Black Jack and Boston Charley were convicted of 
murder, and hanged. That produced peace, and since 
then the county has greatly improved, but feels the 
want of railroad facilities. Under the lava beds are 
caves filled with ice which never melts. The surface 
is wonderful, but the interior more so. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 104 a 

UMBOLDT COUNTY was formed May 12, 1853. 
'*' In 1856 the county seat was fixed at Eureka 
by the Legislature. The county contains about 
2,300,000 acres of land, and the valleys and foothills 
are dotted- with prosperous homes. Congress has 
appropriated $1,750,000 to complete the improvements 
on Humboldt bar and bay, which will make the city 
of Eureka the shipping point for all of northern Cali- 
fornia. 

The territory comprised in this county was visited 
by the trapping party under Jedediah Smith, in 1827, 
but the coast had been visited as early as 1543. On 
the 26th of February, of that year, Juan R. Cabrillo 
discovered and named Cape of Perils, and in 1604 the 
Fragata, a small vessel belonging to Vizcaino's fleet, 
found shelter near Cape Mendocino. But the fine bay 
of Humboldt was not discovered until 1849, when a 
party under Dr. Josiah Gregg, traveling overland 
during the winter months, found and named it. 

As earl/ as 1854 ship building was commenced at 
Eureka. Allen & Co. in that year built the steamer 
Glide to ply between Eureka and Areata. A great 
number of vessels have been constructed there since. 
There are two shipyards at Eureka, and they are both 
prosperous, employing about 300 men at the present 
time. 

The dairying interests of the county are in fine con- 
dition, and are being greatly extended, with the estab- 
lishment of creameries and the introduction of the 
latest machinery. Until lately the production of butter 
and cheese was confined to the Eel river valley, but it 
is now distributed to the various parts of the county. 

Mining, which, in the Trinity excitement, first set- 
tled the territory, is taking on new importance. A 
number of gold placer claims in the Willow creek 
district were bonded during 1892 by a syndicate 
which proposes to introduce water, and practically 
work them. Fifty-two quartz ledge locations have 
been recorded in the same section, and this activity 
has necessarily created considerable excitement. Be- 



104 ii CALIFORNIA f^iVLD tiVVK. 

sides the gold indust'iy, petroleum is known to exist in 
the county. In the Mattole section two companies are 
actively developing, and one has a well down 2,500 
feet, and the prospects for an important strike are 
most promising. 

While all other interests are specially prosperous, it 
is the lumber of Humboldt county which has produced 
its great wealth, the assessments for 1882 aggregating 
$18,012,051, an increase of more than $1 ,000,000 over the 
previous year. When the section was first entered by 
white men the forests of redwood were unbroken, and 
trees ranging from 200 to 400 feet high, and measur- 
ing from twenty to seventy feet in circumference, 
covered all the hills. Trees yielding from 50,000 to 
100,000 feet of lumber were common. The demand 
for this fine lumber has caused much of the timber to 
be felled. In 1892, 165,000,000 feet were exported, 
and nine cargoes, amounting to 5,325,888 feet, valued at 
$128,306, were sent to England. Very much of this 
large sum was paid for labor, and nearly ^11 of it is 
expended in the county, adding just that much to its 
permanent wealth. 

The evidences of prosperity are universal. They 
generally take the shape of improvements of homes, 
and the building of finer places of business. This is 
more apparent in the prosperous city of Eureka, 
because there the expenditures by the Government are 
taking place, but they are observed in all the thriving 
towns in the county. Many thousands of dollars have 
been put into permanent improvements in Areata, 
Ferndale, Table Bluff, and every section of Humboldt. 
Everywhere are signs indicating the ability of the 
citizens to live more comfortably and spend more 
freely. Eureka has adopted city airs, as shown in con- 
crete sidewalks, electric lights, steam heating plants, 
and great business blocks which Avould be noticeable 
in any city in the State. Taking it all in all, Hum- 
boldt county offers fine opportunities to the enterpris- 
ing, whether in business, mining, dairying or general 
farming. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 105 

^Ul^RINITY COUNTY is in one of the northern 
^j^ tiers of counties. The San Francisco Chronicle 
supplies a brief nistory of Trinity county, which is 
known to be reliable, and is specially interesting. It 
was first explored in the early part of this century by 
the bands of trappers sent out from Vancouver by the 
Hudson iid.y Company. That the coast had been 
fairly well known at least two centuries before is 
evident from the records we have of the voyages of 
the early navigators. With the extension of settle- 
ments above the bay of San Francisco came the pro- 
ject for a commercial metropolis on the upper coast, 
probably at Trinidad, as that was the only harbor on 
the charts then in existence. In March, 1848, a meet- 
ing was held in San Francisco to make arrangements 
for the exploration of that bay. The all-absorbing 
gold excitement intervened for a time, but when Eead- 
ing penetrated to the head waters of Trinity river and 
found gold in its sands, this induced several other 
prospectors to cross the mountains into this heretofore 
unprospected region. They were so successful that in 
a short time it was suggested that an entry port be 
established through which passengers and supplies 
could reach this region by a nearer and easier sea 
route. 

Reading discovered and named Trinity river, think- 
ing at the time that it emptied into Trinidad bay. The 
next year an effort was made to find the mouth of the 
river. The expedition was formed in two divisions. 
One was to sail up the coast, and the other was to 
leave the Trinity headquarters and march westward. 
The coasting party returned without any news, but the 
land division which started on November 5, 1849, from 



106 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Rich Bar, crossed the South fork at its junction with 
the main Trinity, and by Indian advice struck west- 
ward over the ridge, reaching the coast after mucli 
trouble at Little river, whence, on December 7th, tbey 
gained Trinidad Head, called by them Cheggs' Point, 
in honor of their leader. Turning southward they 
named Mad river in commemoration of Cheggs' tem- 
per, and coming upon Humboldt bay on December 20, 
1849, they called it Trinity. This was not the first 
discovery of the bay, however, for a Russian chart of 
1848, based on information by the Russian-American 
Company, points it out as entered by a United States 
fur trading vessel in 1796. The part}' camped on the 
site of Areata, and celebrated Christmas on elk meat, 
after which Elk river was named. They then sepa- 
rated. Cheggs, with three others, after vainly trying to 
follow the coast, finally drifted into the Sacramento 
valley, where he died from exposure and starvation. 
The other party following Elk river, and then turning 
southeast, reached Sonoma February 17, 1850; Woods, 
their leader, having been mutilated by bears while en 
route. When the few survivors reached civilization 
once more they told of their discoveries, and immedi- 
ately ships were fitted out and large parties sailed for 
the northern bay. Many of them arrived in safety, 
and these immediately proceeded inland, where they 
met several of the miners from Trinity, who Avere 
searching for the Cheggs party. It was by members 
of this expedition that the city of Klamath was 
founded. 

Shortly after the town of Trinidad was started, and 
it was soon the most prominent place in these regions. 
It grew so rapidly that in 1850 it was made the county 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 107 

seat of Trinity county; which was created in that year 
and embraced all this newly explored region west of 
the coast range. It received further impulse from the 
Gold Bluff excitement during the winter of ] 850-51, 
which drew a crowd of adventurers in search of readv 
washed gold from the ocean bluffs. Meanwhile dig- 
gers had pushed their way along the Trinity, and 
northward to the Klamath river. The region around 
Humboldt bay shared largely in the traflHc with the 
Trinity mines, and revealed such promising agricul- 
tural and timber resources that in 1853 Humboldt 
county was formed out of the western half of Trinit}'. 
which was subsequentl v shorn to its present dimensions 
by the erection of other counties. 

The three classes of mining — placer, hydraulic and 
quartz — are carried on extensively in Trinity county. 
Since 1880 the placer mines have generally passed into 
the hands of men of means, and improved machinery 
has been added, and the output has been largely in- 
creased. The Klamath river, into which the Trinity 
empties, is a torrential stream, and hydraulic mining 
is carried on extensively. There are several fine pro- 
perties about Trinity Center, and at Junction City there 
are several mines which have been large producers for 
years. The Haas, being one of the smallest, produced 
$35,000 in 1892. The Trmity Gold Minmg Company 
owns 400 acres, every panful of which shows gold. It 
has produced some $28,000 in the same time. There 
are over three hundred hydraulic mines in the county. 

Three years ago quartz mines were discovered on 
Canyon creek, and several of them are producing well, 
those west of them are doing development work. 
The quartz mines at Deadwood have been the 



108 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

heaviest producers of any mines in the State. Those 
belonging to the Brown Ber.r Company produce from 
$35,000 to $75,000 monthly. A large amount of 
development work is being done in various parts of the 
county. A Colorado compaii}^ has had 120 men 
employed digging a ditch to convey water twelve miles 
to the old Hubbard placer claims, which have been 
good producers. 

At Cinnabar, in the northeastern part of the county, 
a large force has been employed, erecting furnaces, 
building houses, and preparing for energetic work in 
the summer of 1893, and it is expected that a large 
amount of quicksilver will be sent to market. 

The mining interests being prosperous all other enter- 
prises in the county are buoyant, and the prospects of 
Trinity county are gilt edged. 



SHASTA COUNTY was formed in 1850, and 
the first Legislature which met at San Jose allot- 
ted nearly all of northern California to that county. 
The county seat was at Redding's ranch on the 
Sacramento river, near the mouth of Clear creek. It 
did not remain long there, however. The town of 
Shasta sprang into prominence because of the extensive 
and rich diggings found in that vicinity, and it rapidly 
became one of the most important towns in the north- 
ern part of the State. The county seat was at once 
removed thither, and was maintained there until quite 
recently, when the shifting of population and trade 
centers caused by railroad construction compelled the 
return of the local seat of government to Redding. The 
town of Shasta was almost totally destroyed by fire 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 109 

in December, 1852, and again severely suffered from 
the same cause in June, 1853, and at various times 
subsequently. 

Tlie territory known at present as the county of 
Shasta was first visited by the trappers from British 
Columbia in the early part of the century. These men 
remained in the neighborhood but a short while, how- 
ever, as they were looking for game and an easy route 
to the central and southern part of the State. 

It was in 1843 that Major P, B. Reading, General 
Bidwell, of Chico, and a number of others, penetrated 
into the upper portions of the Sacramento valley, and 
decided to make their homes there. They were 
charmed with the beautiful scenery, the fertility of the 
soil and the abundance of water. They obtained 
large grants of land in the valley. Major Reading 
selecting an immense tract, on the bank of the river. 
Subsequent experience has amply demonstrated the 
wisdom of the choice made by him. 

A short time after the organization of the State 
Government the increase of the population of this 
region, caused by the stories brougiit down from the 
mines, became so great that a portion of Shasta was 
cut off and organized into an independent county, 
called Siskiyou. Within the territory allotted to the 
new county was Mount Shasta; so that peak is not, as 
very many people suppose, located in the county of 
the same name. About the same time Tehama county 
was formed from aportion of Shastaand in due time the 
rush to the mines and the constant settling and forming 
of mining camps in places heretofore deserted was so 
great that the counties of Lassen and Modoc were 
also created. Among the other flourishing towns of 



110 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Shasta county may be mentioned Anderson, Cotton- 
wood, and Millville. In the northwestern part of the 
county there are several valleys which support settle- 
ments of considerable size, and which, though some- 
what isolated, are prominent factors in the development 
of Shasta. Fall River Mills, Burgettville, Pitville, 
Hot Creek and Burney Valley are the most impor- 
tant settlements of this region. 

As already remarked, Shasta county is one of the 
oldest mining counties in the State, and millions of 
dollars have been washed from her gulches and hills, 
but it must not be supposed that because the days of 
placer mining have departed the search for gold has 
been abandoned. On the contrary, it is the opinion of 
many that only a small beginning has yet been made 
in the development of the mineral resources of this 
region, and many weighty facts are cited in support 
of this belief 

Shasta is noted for her superb vineyards and fine 
orchards, and the acreage devoted to these is greatly 
increased. And the mines, also, show great activity. 
More miners find emplo3'ment than ever before, and 
more capital is invested. Tiie Sierra Butte Mining 
Company paid $150,000 for its property on Square 
Creek, and it has been a dividend paying mine from 
the start. The Gladstone Company divides about $15,- 
000 monthly among its stockholders. There are a 
great many small properties which are paying well, 
and every interest in the county is prosperous. 



10^ ASSEN COUNTY had an interesting history, 
^ pending its organization. It is very probable 
that bands of trappers were in Honey Lake valley, 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. HI 

Lassen county, very early, but the fact is not proved. 
It IS not doubted that Peter Lassen and Paul Richeson 
were there in 1848, when engaged in finding a route 
from Fort Hall to the upper Sacramento valley by 
which the Sink of the Humboldt could be avoided. 
Tlie route they took, and which they called " Lassen's 
road," was followed by emigrants on their way to the 
mines for a few years, but was finally abandoned, owing 
to its great length and numerous dangers. In 1857 a 
very short and excellent route was discovered by a 
party led by a man named Koble. They discovered a 
heretofore unknown mountain pass, which they named 
" Noble's pass," and so it has been known ever since. 
Had Lassen discovered this route the county might 
have been settled earlier, as the emigrants would have 
taken it instead of following the Truckee and Carson 
trails. In the latter part of 1853 Isaac N. Roop, post- 
master at Shasta, came over with a few friends and 
staked off a tract of land one mile square at the head 
of Honey Lake valley. In the summer of 1851 Roop 
erected a frame building on his claim which he used as 
a storeroom for supplies which he sold to emigrants 
who passed through the valley that year in great num- 
bers. 

In 1855 Peter Lassen and a companion named kene- 
beck again entered the county on a prospecting tour, 
and were so gratified at the results that Lassen at once 
crossed the mountains to procure men to work the 
place systematically. In October, 1855, Lassen returned 
with several men, food and mining supplies', and a 
large band of cows, oxen and horses. A log cabin was 
immediately erected. It was sixty feet long and 
sixteen feet wide. They then dug a ditch about two 



112 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK 

miles long from the little stream now known as Las- 
sen's creek to the camp. 

All the while numerous settlers had been staking 
and working claims, and in April, 1856, an attempt 
was made at forming some kind of government. On 
the evening of the 2Gth of that month a mass meeting 
was held and Peter Lassen was elected president. It 
was moved and adopted that as Honey Lake valley 
was not within the limits of California the same was 
declared a new territory. It was further stipulated 
that each male settler over twenty-one years of age 
should have a right to take up a claim of 640 acres 
The dimensions of the county as planned by these men, 
and to which the name of Nataqua was given, covered 
about 50,000 square miles. The settlement grew so 
rapidly that in 1857 the authorities of Plumas county 
began to take judicial notes of it, and, believing it to 
be within their jurisdiction, asserted this belief by 
creating it into a separate township under the name of 
Honey Lake township. The settlers were indignant 
and held several mass meetings, but finally, after 
attempts at self-government, they decided to obey the 
authorities of Plumas county. When the government 
surveys were made it was proved beyond a doubt that 
Honey Lake valley was within the boundary line of 
California and in Plumas county. 

In 1864, after a full consideration of the subject, it 
was decided to organize a new eounty out of the ex- 
treme northeastern portion of Plumas county and 
eastern part of Shasta counties. To this was given the 
name of Lassen in honor of old Peter Lassen, who was 
undoubtedly the first white settler. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 113 



^I^EHAMA COUNTY was regularly organized in 
\J1[/ 1856, and Ked Bluff was selected as the county- 
seat in 1857, and there it has remained since. No 
reason has been given for the selection of that name. 
The first settlers in what is now Tehama county were 
N. C. Chard, A. G. Toomes and K. H. Thomes, who 
went there in ISii, settling near Alder creek, and 
appropriating five leagues apiece of the best land they 
could find. Houses of adobe were constructed, and 
large numbers of Indians employed, a beef paying the 
wages of 100 Indians for a week. Peter Lassen also 
took up his residence in the territory in ISM. In the 
three following years a great number of pioneer 
settlers were attracted to the section, and Tehama 
City and Danville became thriving rivals, and Red 
Bluff was started in 1849 by John Meyers, who built 
the first house there. 

Tehama county is centrally located at the head 
of the Sacramento valley in northern California, 
and almost surrounded by high mountains. The 
precious metals in paying quantities have never 
been found within its borders, but the dry atmosphere 
and fertile soil specially adapt it to the production of 
the finest grapes and the choicest fruits, and many 
thousands of acres have been planted to these. In 
1892 large quantities of fruit, green and dried, were 
sold in Portland, St. Louis, Chicago and New York, 
realizing fine prices. The prune and grape yield was 
extra good. A cannery was established at a cost of 
$25,000, and 10,000 cases of fruit were packed and 
sold, the profits more than paying for the plant. 

The school system of Tehama county is splendid. It 
was inaugurated in 1853, the first teacher being a young 



114 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

lady. The high standard estabhshed by her has been 
sustained. The community is a quiet one, devoted to 
farming and fruit growing, and it has escaped the 
exciting scenes which enlivened mining camps. Teha- 
ma is a fine locality for those seeking quiet and pros- 
perous homes. 



ILUMAS COUNTY derived its name from its 
[|>^ principal river, Rio de los Plumas, or Feather 
river, which was so called in 1820 by Captain Luis A. 
Arguello, who headed a Spanish exploring expedition, 
because of the abundance of wild fowl feathers found 
floating on the bosom of the stream. 

As early as 1843, Peter Lassen and a Russian com- 
rade named Isidore Meyerwitz, were there in search of 
a better route from the northern part of California 
to the Sacramento valley. It was decided to branch 
off from the old Oregon trail, and pass to the south 
down the stream to Lassen's peak, and thence by the 
base of a lofty mountain to Mountain Meadows, and 
west to Big Meadows and the headwaters of Huer 
creek, and down that stream to Lassen's ranch, where 
the emigrant parties generally disbanded. This road 
retained its popularity for only a year or two, when it 
was abandoned for a better route. 

Of all the emigrants heading for the gold fields, the 
objective point was Sacramento, and none consid- 
ered the journey ended until the Sacramento valley 
was reached. None thought of making a stop to 
prospect for gold, and very many were inclined to 
feel weary when they found it necessary to retrace 
the toilsome way they had jiassed a month previously. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 115 

Very few halted in Plumas county, and yet one of the 
emigrants was the cause of opening up the country 
in 1850. Among a party of these travelers in 1849 
was a man named Stoddard who, with a companion, 
left their companies in the mountains to hunt game, 
it being their intention to join the others a few miles 
further on. They roamed among the mountains for a 
few hours and finally lost their way. Over hill and 
down dale they walked, but could find no trace of 
their friends. At last they came upon a small lake, 
from which they drank to refresh themselves. While 
standing on the shore they noticed several glittering 
particles along the water's edge. They picked several 
of them up and on examining them closely found 
them to be lumps of pure gold. Before they had time 
to collect a stock they were set upon by the Indians. 
Stoddard's companion was killed, but he managed to 
escape and made his way to the mines, where he told 
his story, which was given little credit until he showed 
the nuggets of gold he had found. A search party 
was formed and in the following spring they left the 
mines and went in search of the lake, which became 
known as Gold lake, and the effort to find it, the Gold 
lake movement. After wandering aimlessly about for 
a few weeks they became despondent and began to 
look with suspicion on Stoddard, who they began to 
think was crazy and the lake a myth. Certain it is 
that neither the lake nor any traces of it was found, and 
after a month the party returned home after endeavor- 
ing to kill Stoddard, who, suspecting their intention, 
made his escape. 

The news of Stoddard's reputed find and the sub- 
sequent effort to again discover the lake attracted 



lie CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

thousands from all parts of the State to the scene, and 
in a short time what was previously a wilderness 
became quite a settlement. 

Before the Gold lake excitement occurred, the first 
Legislature of California had divided the State into 
counties, attaching to Butte county this entire region, 
which was then an unknown wilderness. The geography 
of the State was so imperfectly known and the pop- 
ulation so fluctuating, that proper assignment was impos- 
sible. During the 3"ear 1852 a number of settlements 
were made on the fine agricultural land of the valleys. 
The fall before, the Court of Sessions of Butte county 
had divided this locality into townships and had appoint- 
ed officers. But these were of small use as the miners 
preferred to settle their little quarrels among them- 
selves and, though part of Butte, the Plumas section 
was little governed by it. 

So large was the population in 1853 that the county 
conventions of both political parties were held in this 
region. Finally the people were tired of being ruled 
by officers elected by another section of the county, 
and in 1854 John B. McGee, a member of the Assembly 
and resident of the Plumas section, introduced a bill 
creating the county of Plumas. It passed the Assembly 
without any trouble and on the 17th of March the 
Senate took favorable action upon it. On the 18th of 
the month the signature of Governor John Bigler made 
it a law and Quincy was made the county seat, a posi- 
tion it has maintained until the present time. This 
place is equally dependent upon its mining interests and 
upon agriculture, being situated in the American valley. 
The location of the town is pleasant and desirable, and 
the climate is healthful. Quincy has a weekly news- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK 117 

paper, several general business stores, good schools, 
secret societies, and all other social machinery of a well- 
ordered California business community. 

La Porte is a mining town situated at an altitude of 
4,500 feet upon the divide between the Feather and 
Yuba rivers. It is about thirty miles south of Quincy. 
Snow falls in winter, some time attaining a great depth, 
traveling being carried on by means of snowshoes. 

Taylorville is the principal town in Indian Yalley, 
one of the most prosperous agricultural regions in the 
county. Greenville is credited with a population of 
several hundred. Meadow Valley has a fine situation 
on a stream which is tributary to the North Feather 
river. The headwaters of two branches of the Feather, 
spreading out toward the northeast and northwest, have 
cut their way through gorges and canyons from 300 to 
500 feet below the general level of the country. From 
the base of the Sierra a series of valleys stretch across 
the county for 100 miles in a southeastern direction, 
connected with each other by canyons, passes or low 
divides, such as Big Meadows, comprising some 30,000 
acres ; Mountain Meadow of small area ; Butte Yalley, 
three miles long and one mile wide; Greenville, a 
small valley ; Indiana Yalley, eight miles long and four 
miles wide ; Genessee Yalley ; Clover Yalley, a long 
gorgelike depression, narrow at its. lower end, but 
reaching a width of a mile or more at the upper end, 
and the lower end of Sierra Yalley, a depression of 
some twenty miles long and ten miles broad. 

There are many rich mines in Plumas county, and 
active development work is being prosecuted. The 
want of the communities is a railroad, and the people 
are anxious therefor. Several survevs have been made. 



118 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

and the hope is well founded that the county may 
have quick communication with the outside world at 
an early day. 



yM:ENDOCINO COUNTY was organized in 
JT^l'^L 1859, and got its title from a neighboring 
cape, so christened in the sixteenth century by a Span- 
ish navigator in honor of Antonio de Mendoza, the 
Viceroy of Mexico and patron of the voyager. In May, 
1863, the settlement of the county received an impetus 
by the dicovery of gold in several localities both in 
placer mines and quartz ledges, but it was not abun- 
dant, assaying low, and was not worked to any great 
extent. Coal, copper, silver and petroleum were 
discovered about the same time, and were worked 
advantageously. Rich specimens of copper were found 
at Sanel and Point Areva. 

Mendocino county has prospered unusually, owing 
chiefly to great natural advantages, and of late years to 
the completion of the San Francisco and North Pacific 
railroad. Her soil is exceedingly fertile, and the red- 
wood forests compete with the wealth-giving agricul- 
tural enterprises. Along the coast are several pros- 
perous towns supported by the lumbering interest. 



1 



AKE COUNTY is one of the smallest in the 
^ State. It was noted for its rich grazing grounds 
as early as 1840. In 1847 the first permanent settlers, 
Messrs. Stove and Kelsey, located near Clear Lake, and 
the next year were killed by the Indians. Fear of the 
Indians delayed settlement until 1853, when this abode 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 119 

of Jovely scenery and healthy climate filled up rapidly. 
In 1861, Lake county was cut off from Napa, and a seat 
of government established at Lakeport, on the land of 
"William Forbes. Uncle Sam, at the foot of Clear Lake, 
a mountain peak 4,000 feet high, is the most elevated 
point in the county. The county contains medicinal 
springs of high character which attract many visitors, 
and has some promising quicksilver deposits. The 
Sulphur Bank Company produces an average of 200 
flasks monthly. Otherwise, the county depends upon 
agriculture and fruits, but these are sufficient to render 
its citizens independent and happy. 



/^ LENN COUNTY is the latest subdivision in the 
V^^ State. It is probably the banner wheat grow- 
ing: section of the world, and claims that there is more 
first-class agricultural and less waste land in proportion 
to area in it than in any other county in the State. It 
also contains many profitable orchards and vineyards. 
The warm valley land composing the larger portion of 
the county is suitable for the production of citrus 
fruits, grapes, cherries, peaches, apricots, prunes and 
plums, while the foothills and mountains yield bounti- 
fully the choicest olives, pears and apples. 

During 1892, a chrome mine was developed in the 
mountains, in the western part of the county, and 
yielded several car loads each month. No other mines 
have been opened. Willows is the county seat and 
contains every convenience of a young and prosperous 
city. 



[^ UTTE COUNTY was born with a " gold spoon 
in her mouth." Her rivers, valleys and moun- 



120 CAUFORNJA GOLD BOOK. 

tains have yielded millions of the yellow metal, and arc 
continuing to add vast sums to the wealth of the world. 
Iler great lields wave with wheat and grain, and the 
luscious orange flourishes abundantly in her warm 
soil. Butte as a county liad its origin under the act of 
February 18, 1S50, a few months after the lirst con- 
vention met that established American government in 
the State. It included the present territory, Plumas, a 
part of Tehama, Colusa, Sutter and most of Lassen 
counties. It was about eighty miles by 100 miles in 
extent, being as large as Vermont and Delaware 
together, and containing 8,33(\000 acres. 

The mining uidustries of Uutte have been some of 
the most extensive in the world. John Bidwell dis- 
covered gold in the Feather river in March, 1848, two 
months after Marsliall piclced up the nugget atColonui. 
The operations, which began with the simplest form of 
pan-washing of the early miner, have culminated in 
gigantic hydraulic systems to wash whole mountains 
into sluice boxes, which have startled the entire world. 
Many large nuggets have been found in the various 
mines of Butte. In 1853 an old forty-niner found a 
chunk of gold as big as a beef's heart, lie sold it 
for $1,500. In 1859 a nugget weighing fifty-four 
pounds was taken from a hydraulic mine near Dogtowii. 
It was called the '• Dogtown nugget," and its value 
was $10, 0)90. A number of puie diamonds were found 
in the early sixties at a i)lace known as Cherokee Hat. 
The two leading mining districts are Bangor and 
Forbestown. In the former cement gravel mines, 
abandoned for twenty-five years because the owners 
did not understand the method of exti-acting the gold 
in a profitable manner, were reopened in 1892, and two 



CAI.II'ORNIA COI.n nOOK. 131 

hundred men wore employed, wliilc fully $30,000 was 
oxpondod in o[)Gnin<^ tiie mines, buildin<j; mills, arras- 
tras and other inining' works. Largo sums have been 
(3X|)endod on tiie (Jold IJank mine, owned by W, W. 
Stow, and on the Shapespeare mine, owned by Alvinza 
Ilayward. Those arc to intr'oduoe the improved 
methods which, when they beconu; general, will make 
the yield of precious metals in California as great as 
it ever was. In the liigh regions about (J ravel Kange, 
and what is known as the (irolden ISuinmit district, 
extensive and costly improvements were made, and 
some $80,000 has been expended in mills and in open- 
ing and developing quartz or gravel mines. These 
mines promise to be very rich. Near Oroville during 
tiu! past summer, the (iolden l*cather mine turned out 
a large sum in gold, but the amount cannot be learned. 
The Jianner quartz mine near Morris ravines is being 
extensively develoj)ed by Major McLaughlin and a 
New Voi'k corni)any. 

Oroville is the county seat of i>uLte. The county is 
well supplied with transportation facihties. The first 
stage, running from Marysville to Shasta, began oper- 
ations in 1851. Now railroads or stages penetrate to 
every portion o! the county. 

WUBA COUNTY ranks among the lirst whose 
territory gave the world the exciting stories 
of gold discoveries and all of the interesting incidents 
attendant thereon. Travei'sed as it is by the famous 
Yuba and Feather rivers, both of which were supplied 
with an endhiss succession of "bars" rich in the 
precious yellow metal, Yuba has poured millions into 
the capacious lap of her country. 



123 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Marys ville, which quickly sprang from a riverside 
rancho to a flourishing busy city, has contributed in 
the past some of the most thrilling incidents of Cali- 
fornia pioneer life. About the time that various set- 
tlers were acquiring Mexican land grants all over the 
valley of the Sacramento. Theodore Cordua obtained 
of Captain Sutter in 1842 a lease for nineteen years 
of the tract of land where Marysville now stands. Cor- 
dua erected a substantial adobe house, which was called 
" New Mecklenburg," but the name \vas soon supplanted 
by just plain Cordua's Ranch. The house stood near 
the trail from the upp er to the lower portions of the 
Sacramento valley, thereby becoming a way station 
for considerable travel. Cordua established a trading 
post at his place, and did considerable traflScking in 
various commodities. By 1847 he had thousands of 
cattle and hundreds of horses at his rancho. There 
were numerous Indians in the valley at that time. 
These Indians were about like the balance who over- 
ran California, being known under the generic term 
of " diffgers." Their habits of dress and eating 
were on a par with their kind all over the State. Many 
other settlers joined Cordua before the gold discoveries. 
In October of 1846 a large number of emigrants 
arrived, who spread all over the region now covered by 
Yuba and Sutter counties. During the spring of 1847 
the survivors of the Donner party arrived at Yuba, and 
some remained in that territory. 

Yuba and Sutter counties have much early history 
»that is common to both. Neither amounted to much 
until gold was discovered in the rivers. Jonas Spect 
and a party under Michael Nye discovered gold on the 
Yuba about the same time, which was in May, or 



CAUFORXIA GOLD BOOK. 133 

June. 184S. The year 1849 did very little to alter the 
conditions or prospects of Yuba and Marysville. An 
instance in that year worthy of note was the residence 
of a man named John S. Moore, who successfully coun- 
terfeited quantities of Missouri bank bills. He indus- 
triously exchanged this paper for the miners' dust. 
They were very glad to be accommodated, as the 
difference in weight was very appreciable. The 
difference in value was also very appreciable, as they 
discovered when on their way home, rich with the 
spurious bills, they attempted to cash them. Moore 
escaped to South America and was never brought 
back. 

In 1850 the growth of Marysville, formeriy known 
as Xye's ranch, was very rapid. By that time the 
mines all about and on the Tuba river were paying 
tremendously. In January. 1S50. there were about 
300 people in Marysville and stores and residences 
sprang up like magic. A number of steamers from 
Sacramento soon began to arrive, bringing provisions 
and supplies, which had to be stacked upon the plaza. 
The old Cordua place, then known as !Nye's ranch, 
was divided into town lots, the sale of which be^an 
immediately. Stephen J. Field, then a young attorney 
from Xew York, arrived about this time and began to 
do'lots of work in making documents for land transac- 
tions. January ISth, when Field had been three 
days in town, an election was held almost ** on the spur 
of the moment, "" and Field was elected first alcalde. 
He had an opponent who had been in town a week, 
and his priority almost defeated the attorney. There 
was 231 votes cast. That same night festivities were 
indulged in, with congratulations of the successful 



124 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

candidates, and the town after such discussions was 
christened Marysville, in honor of the only woman 
there, Mrs. Mary Covilland,- whose husband had owned 
nearly the whole townsite, purchased from Cordua. 

The county of Yuba was one of the originals created 
by the first legislature, on February 8, 1850. The 
derivation of the name is disputed, some crediting the 
origin to the Indians, others to a Spanish word, "Uva." 
At the time when Yuba was finally partitioned off 
the town of Marysville could hardly hold its popula- 
tion. There were about 500 regular residents and at 
least 1,000 transients. Dry goods boxes for shelter 
were sold for $2 and $3 each. 

From the time of the discovery of gold in the 
Feather and Yuba rivers, the mining industry increased 
steadily for j'ears. Then exhaustion of gold depos- 
its became apparent. It has seen the rise and fall of 
great hydraulic enterprises, and hopes to see the pow- 
erful monitors again washing mountains into sand 
and gravel, and compelling them to deliver up the 
stored gold. ISTevertheless it is highly prosperous as it 
is. Orchards and vineyards are furnishing train loads 
of green fruit for the Eastern markets, and the drjdng 
houses and canneries are preparing other train loads. 
It is questionable whether the fertile valleys will not 
create more and safer prosperity than did gold in 
its palmy days. 

The Southern Pacific Company bought the Northern 
California railroad, running between Marysville and 
Oroville, and immediately extended it on through Sut- 
ter county by what is known as the Knight's Landing 
road. It is built in the thorough manner usual to that 
company, and lessens the traveling distance between 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 125 

Marvsville and San Francisco by about thirty miles. 
Yuba county, as originally formed when California was 
cut into but twenty-seven subdivisions, extended from 
the Sacramento river to the eastern boundary of the 
State, including its present limits and Sierra, Nevada 
and a portion of Placer counties. 



<^^ lERRA COUNTY was formed from a portion 
^^^^ of Yuba, with Downieville as county seat. 
The first explorers of this region are not all known. 
Along the canyon of the North Yuba men were 
mining as early as the summer of 1S49. Phil, A. 
Haven went up the North Yuba early in September, 
18i9, and found notices of seven different claims posted 
on Big Eich bar. He located on Little Eich bar, and 
was joined by Francis Anderson, who on the 14th of 
September, 18i9, found the first gold discovered in the 
neighborhood of Sierra's capital town, Downieville. 
The news soon spread and by November there were 
several settlements made, and in the immediate neisfh- 
borhood of the North Yuba there were many populous 
camps. The discovery in this region of gold by Mr. 
Anderson was quite accidental. He went up to the 
forks and just above where the Jersey'' bridge at Dow- 
nieville now stands made his find. It was not a rich 
strike, about $4, but it encouraged him and he 
went a little further up the stream, where he struck 
an exceedingly rich gravel deposit. He was almost 
afraid to go on with his work alone, as the traces of 
Indians were everywhere about, and he knew not 
whether they were hostiles or otherwise. He worked 
for an hour or so. standing in the water, taking^ out 



126 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

from $10 to $20 to a pan, when he heard loud noises 
on the hillside, and looking around saw a band of men 
dressed in various bright colors descending toward 
him. They were whooping and yelling as they clam- 
bered down the steep descent, and Anderson's first 
impression was that they were Indians thirsting for his 
gore. Grasping his knife, he decided to sell his life 
dearly, but was soon pleased to find there was no cause 
for fear, as they proved to be the Jim Kane party. 
They paid no attention to Anderson, but rushing into 
the water proceeded with their work of washing gravel 
with their pans. They were very fortunate in their 
selection of their place of v/ork, for the}'^ cleaned up 
that day $300 to the pan. Anderson hastened back to 
Mr. Haven in the evening, and told him of the fabu- 
lous sums which he might carry off with the aid of a 
rocker. A small party with a rocker started out next 
day, and although they fell short of their expectations 
they did exceedingly well. On the morning of the 
fifteenth, Jim Kane's party netted $2,800. From the 
bar formed by the forks of the Yuba at this point, 
there were taken several million dollars, and from that 
day to this, Sierra county has been noted for its rich 
mines. 

During the year 1892 the mining developments of 
this section have been numerous and varied, many of 
which are bright with promise of golden dividends. 
San Francisco, New York and English capitalists have 
invested thousands of dollars in some of the most valu- 
able properties, and are energetically working to place 
them on a paying basis. Judging by the past years of 
o-old yield of millions of dollars extracted from Sierra's 
lava capped mountains, handsomer interest on his prin- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 12'? 

cipal than is obtainable elsewhere will reward the ven- 
turesome prospector. The home people, believing that 
none should be assisted who do not help themselves, 
risk all their available funds in prospecting for new 
mines to replace those which may soon be worked out? 
and frequently with most gratifying results. 

The Young American, William Tell, Sierra Buttes, 
Chips, Clev^eland, Butte Saddle, Biglow, Independence, 
Phoenix and other quartz mines have been operated 
with var} ing success, and there have been cleanups of 
many thousands of dollars during the year 1892 in and 
around Sierra City. The Gold Bluff ledge, near 
Downieville, recently purchased by New York capital- 
ists, bids fair to become a profitable enterprise. The 
Oxford, Oro and other as promising locations, will 
undoubtedly be developed when capital affords the 
" open sesame " to their secreted treasures. 

A few miles from Forest City are the Ruby and 
Bald mountain Extension drift mines, where quite a 
number of miners are employed The stockholders of 
these claims have had dividends of thousands of dollars 
during the pastyear,with a showing for many more. An- 
cient river beds,hundreds of feet below the surface of the 
mountains, have been reached by long tunnels, that of 
the Extension being already over a mile and a quarter 
underground, with a probable auriferous channel of 
miles northeast up the pliocene lead. At Alleghany 
the Maple Grove Company, ^composed of Forest City 
Downieville and San Francisco business men, have with 
a hard bedrock tunnel of about 350 feet recently tapped 
what is thought to be in the lower part or outlet of the 
Ruby channel, and the encouraging prospect obtained 
froma small dump full of gravel has justified the put- 



128 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

ting on of several men to thoroughly develop the lead, 
and a large part of which comes down through the 
Extension and South Fork locations. Many rich ledges 
are being successfuU}- worked near this mining camp. 
In northern Sierra the Gibsonviile and La Porte 
ridge channel is being profitably developed through 
the Thistle shaft, to which a mile or more of tunnel 
may in time be run from Waliis creek for an econom- 
ical working of the mine. Other drift mines have 
yielded well, especially the Happy Hollow and 
Pioneer. 

Sierra county is exceedingly mountainous, and 
only Sierra valley, situated in the eastern portion 
of the county, is adapted to extensive farming. It 
is thirty miles long, and from ten to fifteen miles 
wide. Artesian wells have been sunk at small expense, 
and many of the farms are irrigated with the water 
thus supplied. The greater portion of the population 
being engaged in mining, the ranchers obtain good 
prices for everything they produce, and dispose of it 
all at Sierra City and Downieville. 



i^OLUSA COUNTY was created in 1850; but 
\^^ before a single house had been erected in Colusa 
City it had been named and located. It was built on 
the ruins of the Indian Capital, called Coru, inhabited 
by Coins Indians, of whom Sioc was the head chief. 

The first real settler in Colusa county was a man 
named Bryant. He raised corn on his place in 1846. 
When gold was discovered two years later, there were 
not a dozen whites in the county. The gold excitement 
populated the rivers, creeks and hills at a lively pace 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 129 

in 1849 and 1850. Towns or camps began to be staked 
out, and civilized houses were erected. By 1852 a 
iiotel was built at Colusa. The Sacramento river 
afforded easy transportation from Sacramento city, and 
freight and commodities came that way. 

The history of the earliest white settlement of 
Colusa is almost identical with that of Butte. The 
reason is that much of the common territory belonged 
to the former. John Bid well was one of the pioneers 
in that section, passing through in 1843. Peter Lassen 
acquired one of the very first land grants, although his 
land was not entirely within Colusa. His settlement 
was made in 1844. Up to this year the Colusa Indians 
had never seen a white man. These Colusa Indians 
had a tradition that a flood once ingulfed California. 
Only an eagle and a mud turtle remained alive, the 
former flying above the water and the latter floating 
upon a bunch of tules. They worked together. The 
eagle tied a string to the turtle, which dove down and 
brought up mud, placing it upon the floating tules, the 
eagle helping to pull him up with the load. In this 
way they^built the Butte mountains, which protruded 
above the water. On this land some elders grew, from 
which these industrious creatures made a male and 
female Indian, w4io in turn populated California. 

The minerals of Colusa are of the same character as 
those of Butte. Quantities of gold were discovered 
there when the early prospectors iiad spread out over 
the whole of the valley of the upper Sacramento. 
Silver abounds in many places and copper almost in 
the native form exists in large deposits. Quicksilver 
is quite plentiful near the line that divides Colusa from 
Lake count v. 



130 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

The sandstone quarry near Sites is attracting general 
attention. It is on the Colusa & Lake railroad, about 
ten miles from its junction with the Northern railway. 
The stone is on the surface and is easily quarried, only 
requiring to be blasted from the hillsides. In color it 
is a gray blue. The specific gravity is greater than 
granite. Considerable quantities have been removed, 
the Oakland Theater having been built of it, and a 
laro-e amount having- been used in the construction of 
Trinity Church in San Francisco during the year 1892. 
The supply is simply inexhaustible, inasmuch as it 
consists of mountains of solid sandstone 400 feet high, 
and eight miles long. It is the best quarry in the 
State and easy of access. 

A company was incorporated last year to make salt 
at their works north of Sites. It is said to be superior 
to Liverpool salt, and the scheme is one which points to 
a grand success. 



^^ UTTER COUNTY was named in honor of Cap- 
^^^ tain John A. Sutter, who at one time claimed to 
own the territory which composes it, and a considerable 
portion of Sacramento and Placer and the valley portion 
of Yuba, and a little of Colusa as well. The Mexican 
authorities never acknowledged his title to a grant of 
any such dimensions. Indeed, this was about fi.ve 
times greater than any one was permitted to claim. 
Bv getting friends to locate on the more desirable 
parts, he and they held possession of a good deal more 
than he was ever entitled to. Captain Sutter con- 
structed a building so strong in appearance that it was 
always spoken of as "Sutter's Fort." He began to 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK, 131 

raise wheat on a large scale, using Mexicans. Indians 
and emigrants as husbandmen, and no doubt had the 
first flour mill in operation which was known in Cali- 
fornia. Compared with some of the great flour man- 
ufactories now operated in California, it could only be 
called a " flour-mill '' by curtes\' : but it was far more 
effective than the Mexican and Indian way of grinding 
the wheat between two loose stones worked by hand. 

California pioneers ever held a warm place in their 
hearts for Captain Sutter. To them an earnest wel- 
come was given, which could not fail to be apprecia- 
ted by men and vsromen who had passed through such 
trying scenes as no description can render real in any 
sense. Those who shared his hospitality after the long 
journey across the plains, and who are still in the land 
of the living, have only good words for, and pleasant 
memories of Captain Sutter, and all Americans regret 
the pecuniary misfortunes which overtook him towards 
the close of his life. 

Situated as it was, with mining fields on every side, 
Sutter county had a livel}^ interest in the success of 
mines, but contained no very rich deposits of gold 
within its borders. Its citizens were devoted to rais- 
ing bread and meat for those who delved for ffold. 
From wheat growing and cattle raising the change to 
the more profitable business of fruit growing was easy, 
and more especially as Sutter county was noted for its 
small thoroughly cultivated ranches. In the 1/ist few 
years its ranches have been among the heaviest ship- 
pers of green, dried and canned fruits of any section 
in the State, and the fruits have obtained high favor 
in the East. Peaches take the lead of all fruits grown 
in the county. After peaches come apricots, pears, 



132 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

plums and small fruits. Citrus fruits do finely, and 
tiie cultivation of these is multiplying rapidly every 
year. 

The most flourishing towns in the county are in the 
order named : Yuba Cit}^ Live Oak, Meridan, Nico- 
laus, Pleasant Grove and Sutter City, the latter place 
being the most youthful. The first named is the 
county seat, and has doubled in population since 1880, 
gaining the most of this in the past five yearg. 



MTEVADA COUNTY is on the eastern boundarv 
J ^ of the State. The name means " snowy. " 
The central part of the county contains rich gold 
workings, including quartz, hydraulic and placer 
mines. The western part is especially adapted to 
horticulture and agriculture, and contains about 250,- 
000 acres. 

The first settlement in the county was made by 
John Rose at Rose Bar, near Smartsville, in 1849. A 
trading post was established in the same year on 
Bear river, near the mouth of Greenhorn creek, and 
Rough and Ready was settled by the Rough and 
Ready company about the same time. Topographi- 
cally the county is very uneven throughout, the great 
snowy mountains covering tiie eastern part and the 
foothills the western part. These hills and mountains 
have yielded millions of dollars to the pick and pan of 
the miner. 

A short distance above Nevada City is the famous 
hydrauling mining region, which formerly added mil- 
lions annually to the gold product of the county. The 
stopping of hydraulic mining by the courts was the 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 133 

greatest calamity that ev^r befell the county, reducing 
its taxable property over $3,000,000, and lessening its 
inhabitants at least 5,000 souls. Grass valley is the 
largest town in the county, and has a population of 
about 7,000. The principal industry is quartz mining. 
Here are located the pioneer quartz mines and mills of 
the State. 

The county has connection with the outside world by 
means of the Nevada County Narrow-Gauge railroad, 
linished in 1876, extending from Nevada city through 
Grass valley to Colfax, where it connects with the 
Central Pacific. Truckee, in the eastern part of the 
county, is noted for its product of lumber, wood and 
ice. The celebrated " Bartlett pear belt " extends 
tb.rough a portion of the county, and considerable 
attention has been paid to the raising of this fruit. 
Nevada county offers to the public a fine climate, 
excellent agricultural and horticultural land, and the 
best field for mining investments in the world. 

This county is still the banner gold mining section of 
the Golden State. Within the year just passed there 
have been no startling discoveries nor remarkably rich 
" strikes," and, in fact, no extreme activity ; but the 
old mines have continued to yield their full measure of 
gold, and during the year 1892 there have been many 
new mines opened up, some of which are already yield- 
ing in paying quantities, and most of which are prom- 
ising. 

Nevada county is always sure to retain prestige as 
the peerless mining producer of California. In 1892 a 
great enterprise was inaugurated that is calculated on 
its successful completion to almost revolutionize quartz 
mining in Nevada* county. A powerful company has 



lU CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

been organized for the purpose of placing at a central 
location a large electric plant which will furnish power 
for all the mines within the county. Behind this 
company are prominent capitalists of San Francisco 
and San Jose. Work on the plant has already been 
commenced, and at a point on the South Yuba river an 
immense dam has been built for the development of 
water-power for running the dynamos. With the 
opening of spring the work will be resumed, and the 
plant is expected to be in operation during the year 
1893. 

A similar enterprise which will follow this is the 
budding of an electric railroad to connect Grass valley 
and Xevada City with many of the most important 
mines. Applications have already been made to the 
supervisors of the county for rights of way extending 
from the east to the west county lines. The great 
advantage of these two enterprises to the county can 
hardly be estimated. The lack of adequate power and 
transportation facilities for the mines has heretofore 
been one of the greatest drawbacks to the proper 
development of the county and its wonderful mineral 
resources. 

One of the surest indications of coming prosperity in 
Xevada county during the year has been the interest 
taken and the progress made in horticultural and agri- 
cultural developments. Those who have heretofore 
devoted all their capital and energy to the develop- 
ment of the mines have come to realize that there are 
other possibilities for this region. The shipments of 
green fruits, mostly pears and peaches, from Xevada 
county during 1S92. far exceeded those of any previous 
year in its history. More land was 'cleared and pre- 



CAUFORKIA GOLD BOOK. 135 



pared for tree planting an<l grain raising than in anj 
pieTions five years. 



.ACER COU^^STT formed a part of Salter. April 
25. ISol. the original dividing act was amended. 
and the additicHial cooniies o: Placer and 2sevada cre- 
ated. Three at four attempts have be^i made anoe to 
create new coonties by slicing off some of Placer and 
parts of adjcMning coonties. They have failed, and 
Placer rranains ais originally formed, with Aabom as 
co<mty seatu 

Gold was discsovered at the " Dry Diggings,*' in Aabom 
ravine. Placer ooonty, by Claode Ghana, May 16, 
IS-lrS. just foor months mini^ three days aft^ its dis- 
covery by Marshall at Coloma. Ghana, who was 
intimate with Varshall. made this discovery while 
leading a petrtj to G(^ma to engage in gold digging 
time. The party w^e wln^y inexperienced, and did 
notsoooeed w^ and socmi after abandoned the field. 
and fHOoeeded to the Toba river, where after a years 
work they deared up $25,000. When Ghana and bis 
party left the ravine it was not long allowed to remain 
neglected. In the ~Dry Diggings.'^ near Aubom. 
daring tiie month of Aognst, \^A%, one man got 
$16,000 oat <A five car loads of dirt. In the same 
diggings a good many were collecting from $800 to 
$1,500 a day. The regi<m soon acquired the name of 
*- The North Fcwk Ihy Diggings," and in the fidl of 
1?49. w1m& the settlonent became more oenoentrated 
.and stares were estaUished, was giyen the name 
it now bears — Aobom. 



186 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

In the summer of 1848 the principal tributaries of 
the American river were explored by a company of 
Oregonians, and rich prospects obtained upon almost 
every bar, as far up the Middle Fork as they proceeded. 
At this time the bars were generally explored as high up 
the Middle Fork as Rector's Bar, which proving as 
rich as any diggings the explorers expected to find, 
and it being difficult to go further up the river Avith 
horses, they ceased to travel and worked the mines 
until winter set in, when they returned to the settle- 
ments in the valley or to their homes in Oregon. 

Early in 1849, the system of washing the auriferous 
dirt with the common rocker was introduced upon the 
middle fork of the American river, and was regarded 
as a great improvement to gold mining. During this 
year miners flocked to the bars in great numbers from 
" the Old Dry Diggings " and Coloma and elsewhere, 
and during the summer settlements were formed in 
many parts of Placer county, including Auburn and 
Ophir in the foot-hills and many less important camps 
on the American rivei*. 

In the pioneer days Placer was noted for its agricul- 
tural attainments. Fruits, grain and vegetables were 
raised in great abundance, while of late years the hor- 
ticultural industry has taken precedence of all others, 
and the fine fruits of the Placer foot-hill orchards and 
vineyards are known all over the West. 

The principal industries of Placer are the produc- 
tion of gold, fruit and the raising of wheat, cat- 
tle, sheep and wool. Over 130,000 acres are annually 
devoted to wheat, barley and hay. Gold beneath 
ground and gold above ground are the characteristics 
of Placer. It is a strange though oft contradicted 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 137 

fact, that there in the thermal belt, situated 500 miles 
north of the famed orange groves of San Bernardino 
and Los Angeles, and within fifty miles of the snow on 
the summit of the Sierra, the oranges ripen nearly four 
weeks in advance of those in Southern California. 
Every variety of climate characteristic of the temper- 
ate zone may be found in Placer. At the summit in 
eastern Placer are found many feet of snow, while in 
the thermal belt on the sunny side of the Sierra may 
be found green fields, singing birds, a wealth of roses 
and golden citrus fruits. 

Placer, in 1891, shipped over 19,000,000 pounds of 
delicious fruits. In 1892, over 24,000,000 pounds. 
The total shipments of New Castle this season w^re 
14,070,265 pounds as against 11,952,291 to the cor- 
reponding date of last season, or a gain of 2,084,794 
pounds. Penryn comes in this year as a close second, 
while large shipments were made from Colfax, Auburn 
and Loomis. During the month of September, 1892. a 
total of nineteen cars were shipped from various points 
in Placer in a single da}^ 

Renewed activity is being manifested in tlie mining 
circles of Placer county. New capital is taking hold of 
many good mines that have lain idle, and their develop- 
ment is likely to be prosecuted on a more systematic 
and business-like plan than in the past. Several of the 
best mines in the county are shut down on account of 
legislation. The Ophir district, four miles south of 
Auburn, is the most noted locality for quartz, and 
contains eighty or ninety claims. But few of them, 
however, are being worked at present. Notably 
among them is the Nina, Rica, Morning Star, The 
Moore and the Golden Stag. Several good properties 



138 CALIFORNfA GOLD BOOK. 

in other portions of the county are being worked with 
profit, viz: The Dores and Pioneer at Damascus, Am- 
erican Bar at Michican Bluff, Druramond Bar at Iowa 
Hill, and Ilomestake near Forest Hill. Among the 
drift mines now being operated are the Morning fStar 
of Iowa Hill, the Dardanelles, Mayflower and Gray 
Eagle of Forest Hill, Hidden Treasure of Sunny South, 
Breeze and Wheeler of Bath, and Mammoth Bar near 
Auburn. With one or two exceptions the entire mining 
districts on the divide are given over to general enter- 
prises. 




DORADO COUNTY was one of the twenty- 
1^^ seven into which California was first subdivided 
in 1850. To it belongs the honor of having been the 
scene of the great discovery which pushed every human 
enterprise ahead. It was where the Argonaut firstsaw 
California soil after making his journey across the plains, 
and to-day many an old Californian, now in the Eastern 
States, associates his idea of California with what he 
saw and knew of El Dorado in the early years, that 
being all of the State he ever saw. -Her mines have 
from the first kept pace with the foremost in the State, 
and are still being worked perseveringly and with 
success. Quartz, gravel and cement claims are being 
operated successfully and cheaply by means of elec- 
tricity as a motive power, reducing the cost of operating 
to a minim.um, enabling the operator to work low-grade 
ores with a profit, and largely increasing the output. 

Coloma was at first made the county seat of gov- 
ernment. When the placers had been worked out, and 
the importance which these had given it subsided. 



CALTFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 139 

Placerville, originally "Hangtown," was selected as 
the county seat, and there it will remain. Althouoli 
in the beginning most of the towns were founded and 
supported by the mines, yet many of the inhabitants 
made their living by farming. Money was flush, 
vegetables were a great luxury, and the soil was ricli. 
Potatoes and other products wera sold for fabulous 
sums, and in a short time the farmers were the reign- 
ing element of the community. With the decline of 
mining, however, involving the death of so many 
camps, the vitality of the larger places rapidly declined, 
and by 1880 less than 11,000 remained of a popula- 
tion which in the early fifties numbered over 20,000. 
But farming, and notably horticulture, stepped into a 
channel of slow, though steady growth, and the 
fruits of El Dorado have won high reputation for 
their excellent quality, thus materially assisting in the 
upbuilding of the county. 

The forests of sugar pine are very extensive and 
are being manufactured into lumber for home and 
foreign markets. Within the past year several com- 
panies have erected large mills in the timber belt, 
which gives impetus to business. Among them is the 
American River Land and Lumber Company, which 
owns 10,000 acres of timber land. This concern has 
built ten miles of railroad to carry logs to the Ameri- 
can river, whence they float them to Folsom, where 
they will be manufactured, creating an industry which 
adds greatly to the prosperity of the county. 

The only slate quarries being worked in the State 
are located within four miles of Placerville, where an 
inexhaustible quantity exists, easily obtained and 
equal in quality to any in the world. The annual 



140 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

output is enormous, making an industry that will 
always be a source of profit to the county. 

Orchardists are paying special attention to the 
improvement of their orchards, and in the selection of 
good shipping varieties to meet the demands of the mar- 
kets. A large increase has been made in acreage during 
the year, and shipments have increased sixty per cent 
over last year. One hundred and thirty-four carloads of 
21,000 pounds each of green fruit were shipped from 
Placer ville alone this season. Wine grapes grown 
here are sought after by wine makers in the valleys, 
because the mountain fruit makes a better wine than 
that of the valley. The soil of El Dorado county is 
well adapted to the raising of grains, hay and vegeta- 
bles, producing quality and quantity equal to any 
mountain county in the State. The increase in wheat 
is especially noticeable, caused by the erection of a 
flouring-mill in Placerville, making a home market for 
all that can be produced, and insuring good prices. 
The future of El Dorado county in agricultural pro- 
ducts is assured. 

Activity in manufacturing enterprises is specially 
marked. The most noticeable is a flouring mill, built 
in Placerville by the El Dorado Milling Company, 
equipped with a complete outfit of the most modern 
and improved machinery, with a capacity of sixty 
barrels of flour per day. Bleur & Co. have erected a 
manufactory for builders' materials, boxes, doors, 
blinds, etc. Two fruit houses have been added to 
meet the demands of shippers and keep up with the 
increasing supply of fruits for shipment. 

Railroad facilities have been greatly improved. 
The Sacramento and PJacerville branch of the Southern 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 141 

Pacific Company has been extended to Placerville. 
It has assisted in developing business until it is not 
always convenient to obtain cars when wanted at 
some of the rapidly growing stations on the road. 



^^ONOMA COUNTY, the locality of the famous 
^^^ Bear Flag war, is another of the original 
counties. Ouce, indeed, the district called Sonoma 
included all of that country west of the Sacramento 
river and north nearly to the Oregon line. When 
county divisions were made it still occupied all that is at 
present Mendocino, and most of what is now Napa. In 
1S59 Sonoma was reduced to its present size. The name 
Sonoma is an Indian word, signifying " Yalley of the 
Moon." It originated with the Chocuyen Indians, but 
was suggested by Father Jose Altimira, who came 
there in 1824 to establish the first mission. 

The first trip into what is now Sonoma was made by 
Captain Quiros when, on a voyage of discovery, he 
sailed up Petaluma creek in 1776, seeking its course. 
In January, 1811, Bodega bay was visited by a Russian 
from Alaska named Alexander Koskoff. He liked the 
country and took possession of a sti'ip of land probably 
in both Sonoma and Marin counties, whereon he settled 
in spite of Spanish protests. Koskoff staid on the land, 
and in five years had a settlement with twenty-five 
Russians and eighty Kodiac (Alaskan) Indians. They 
erected a barricade for protection, and made hunting 
and trapping expeditions for considerable distances 
inland and north and south. They planted orchards 
and erected a church, raised grain, worked in leather, 
wood and iron, and had a good trade with Sitka. 



143 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

In 1823 Father- Jose Altimira and Don Francisco 
Castro, under military escort, commanded by Jose 
Sanchez, started to Sonoma's territory to establish a 
mission there. Their explorations were continued 
over "a great area, and finally a site was selected, called 
New San Francisco. It was in August of 1823 that the 
construction of buildings was commenced. Three 
years later the Indians destroyed the mission and 
Father Altimira barely escaped with his life. Under 
Father Fortuni the mission was rebuilt, and was again 
in permanent shape in 1830. In 1832 the Indians were 
freed, and the lands divided up. Next year the small- 
pox scourge broke out, when it is said 60,000 Indians 
in the territory now included in Sonoma, Napa and 
Solano counties, perished miserably. 

Settlers came to Sonoma n^vn rapidly betv/een 1835 
and 1840. The Indians continued hostilities, but in 
spite of their depredations the country began to thrive, 
and sheep and cattle raising and agriculture flourished. 
The military government of the State was now under 
General Vallejo. He was ordered to extend the settle- 
ments to the northwestward, and so made several 
grants of land to emigrants. These Anglo-Saxons 
were beginning to come in, were opposed by the Rus- 
sians, who still held sway at Bodega bay and Fort 
Koss. Difficulties soon arose and the Anglo-Saxons 
were constantly getting the best of the situation. 
The Russians finally ajipealed to General Yallejo and 
Governor Alvarado, urging them to buy their partially 
improved possessions. This was declined, when they 
effected a sale to John A. Sutter in 1840, and then 
abandoned the homes that they had held for upward 
of thirty years. The bands of American settlers, who 



CALIFOkNiA GOLD BOOK. 143 

were soon to control the whole country, commenced to 
flock in more rapidly, and they soon began to establish 
more modern ideas. About 1S41 a Captain Stephen 
Smith, of the bark George and Henry, saw the need of 
lumber and grist-mills in the new country. He em- 
barked for the Atlantic, and after a couple of years 
returned with the necessary machinery. He landed 
forcibly at the old Russian possession, being opposed by 
Captain Sutter. There he got lumber and erected 
mills near the redwood forests. Finally the buildings 
were completed and the whole country was invited to 
come and see the start. Everything worked to per- 
fection. Lumber was sawed and wheat was ground 
into flour. Bread was baked, cattle butchered and a 
splendid banquet was held. The pioneer mill was a 
success. Smith ran his machinery until 1850 and then 
sold out. Subsequently the mill was taken to Mendo- 
cino count}'-. 

Before the war was declared between the United 
States and Mexico, trouble had started a number of 
times between Mexicans and Americans in California, 
owing to attempts of the former to expel the latter 
from the territory. Americans had been imprisoned 
and proscribed, but they were arriving in great num- 
bers, and their progress was resistless. Mexico and 
her subjects were becoming alarmed. A congress or 
junta was called, and serious discussions were had over 
a proposal to have France or England assume a protec- 
torate over California to the exclusion of the Yankees. 
General Yallejo strenuously opposed any such move- 
ment, and withdrew from the junta. Governor Pio 
Pico was much in favor of ceding the country to a for- 
eign power. Vallejo had at this time retired to his 



144 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

country home in Sonoma county, after having occupied 
tlie most prominent positions in the State. Fremont 
had come to Cahfornia a Uttle before these troubles. 
He had a small but intrepid following of soldiers. Dis- 
sension had arisen between Governor Pio Pico and 
General Jose Castro. The latter was a power in the 
community. He gathered horses, men and arms to 
proceed against both Fremont and Pio Pico, as both 
had defied his authority. 

An uprising being feared Pico communicated with 
Castro, asking his assistance for the. general strife 
asrainst the Americans. Lieutenant Arci, under com 
mand of General Castro, left Sonoma with the horses 
to go to Santa Clara. He crossed the Sacramento 
river at Knight's Landing, and told Knight's wife, who 
was a Mexican woman, what he intended to do. Mrs. 
Knight told her husband. Knight immediately rode 
to Fremont's camp with the information. This was on 
June 9, 1846. A party of eleven men under Ezekiel 
Merritt started in pursuit of Lieutenant Arci at once. 
They were joined by others on their way, and received 
information of Arci's camp. They proceeded under 
cover of darkness to within a short distance of the lieu- 
tenant's quarters. In the early morning following they 
captured Arci and all of the animals. Arci and his 
men were given an animal apiece, and told to depart 
and say to General Castro that he could have the 
horses when he would come and take them. The party 
then rejoined Fremont, having ridden 150 miles in 
forty-eight hours. 

It was now decided to be unsafe to do anything but 
proceed. They determined to capture Sonoma City 
and its garrison at once, before Lieutenant Arci could 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 145 

reach that place. They accordingly set out June 12 at 
3 o'clock on the ride of 120 miles. The company 
received reinforcements, and numbered thirty-three 
men. June 14, at daylight, they surprised the garrison 
at Sonoma and captured everything. General Vallejo 
was made a prisoner along with other illustrious Mexi- 
cans. There were ten pieces of artillery at the garri- 
son, and much ammunition and other arms. The 
victors, who then unfurled the famous Bear flag with a 
huge grizzly, a lone star and the words " California 
Republic " upon it, carried their prisoners off in triumph 
to Sacramento, and locked them up for sixty days. 
The prisoners were taken away on horses furnished by 
(leneral Vallejo himself. The handful of patriots for- 
mulated a proclamation whereby they declared Cali- 
fornia to be a free republic. It is related that tlie 
guard who accompanied the prisoners all went to sleep 
at a camp on the way, and forgot to leave a sentinel. 
In the night a party of Mexican rancheros came into 
camp, woke the general, and told him that they could 
surprise the Americans, kill them all, and declare war, 
if he thought best, and would command them. He 
declined, saying that he would go with his captors, 
that such action could only entail the eventual ruin of 
their homes, and he thought that everything would 
soon be settled. 

The victors at Sonoma found, after their excitement 
had abated, a Mexican flag floating over the citadel. 
They hauled it down and after considerable discussion 
decided upon the " Bear flag." A piece of cotton 
cloth was obtained upon which a man named Todd 
painted the star with red paint. The bear and words 
"California Republic," or "Republic of California," were 



14G CALIFORNJA GOLD BOOK. 

afterwards painted and the flag hoisted amid shouts and 
excited hurrahs. On July 9th following, the A.mericau 
flag took the place of the bear flag. The officers of the 
fort found themselves short of powder, and, as they had 
determined upon California's independence, and were 
making preparations for a long fight, they sent two 
young men, named Cowie and Fowler to Santa Rosafor 
the ammunition. The young men were captured 
by Mexicans, and most foully tortured and murdered. 
Two of the murderers were afterwards killed. 

General Castro made an appeal to all Mexicans to 
fight for the country against the Americans, and got 
together a force with which he started toward Sonoma. 
Some of these forces captured two men belonging to 
the fort at Sonoma, one being Todd, the bear flag- 
artist. A Captain Ford and fourteen men pursued the 
Mexicans, surprised them at a ranch, killed nearly a 
dozen, and rescued the prisoners. Fremont and others, 
with a considerable force, now joined issue with the 
Sonoma garrison. Castro left forces near Sonoma's 
territory, but himself escaped to San Francisco, from 
which place he commanded his small army. Several 
of his spies, sent to reconnoiter, were captured and 
shot. One bore a letter to Captain de la Torre, instruct- 
ing him to kill every American, man, woman and 
child, found. De la Torre's forces soon after escaped 
to Yerba Buena (San Francisco). News reached 
Sunoma garrison on July 10, 184(1, that Commodore 
Sloat had taken Monterey on July 7, and that wai* had 
been declared between the United States and Mexico. 
The bear flag was pulled down, and stars and stripes 
run up, and the bear flag war was ended. 

Sonoma is another of the counties abounding in the 



CALIFORNTA GOLD BOOK. 147 

great redwoods, and lumbering has formed one of her 
important industries. Her hills and valleys are exceed- 
ingly beautiful. The valleys, particularly, are among 
the finest in the State. The principal ones are the 
Sonoma, Petaluma, Santa Rosa and Russian river. 
This county has made the most material development 
of any coast county during the year 1892. Five years 
before the chief industry was grape-growing. The 
low prices of wine and grapes have gradually driven 
the grape-growers out of the business and their atten- 
tion has been turned to the more lucrative business of 
prune and general fruit-growing. Hop-growing has 
also been going forward with gigantic strides during 
the past few years until Sonoma county has become 
the Mecca of California and eastern brewers. From 
a fruit standpoint the county was very prosperous in 
1892, the revenue from this source exceeding that of 
the year before by more than $34,00(t. 

The branch line of the San Francisco and North 
Pacific railroad terminates at Sebastopol, seven miles 
west of Santa Rosa, and it has given an impetus to 
business which nothing but a railroad can do so effect- 
ively. Further westward is the great dairying dis- 
trict of this county. Thousands of pounds of butter 
and cheese are shipped from this section to the eastern 
States. The sawmills in the dense redwood forests 
in the northwestern part of the county have cut more 
timber in 1892 than in the year previous by 2,000,000 
feet, and Guerneville has shipped more freight, mostly 
dressed lumber, than any other town in the county. 
The quicksilver excitement of twenty 3'ears ago in the 
Pine-flat country is being revived in a modified form, 
and shafts are being sunk with good success in the dis- 



148 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

trict supposed to have been worked out years ago. 
There is no doubt but there is paying ore there, and 
capitahsts are organizing to get it out. 

The recently discovered coal beds on Mark West 
creek, five miles northeast of Santa Kosa, are being 
developed by practical men. Some thirty or forty 
men are tunneling now, and a large force will be put 
on in the spring. These coal fields have been thor- 
oughly tested, and the supply is inexhaustible. Either 
an electric line or branch of the Donahue system will 
be built to carry the coal to market. 

This county now has three distinct lines of railroad, 
with communications on the ivest and south ; still the 
lines are not adequate to drain the county of its 
multifarious products. A scheme that will surely 
carry is on foot to build an electric line from Santa 
Rosa to Tidewater, a few miles below Petaluma. 

Santa Rosa is the county seat, and it is beautiful 
and prosperous almost beyond description. Its citi- 
zens are cultured, and Santa Rosa's reputation as an 
educational center is as broad as the State. 

The city of Petaluma, situated at the head of 
Petaluma creek, has made more progress during 1S92 
than during the previous ten years. The Currier-Carl- 
son Silk Company has planted itself permanently in 
a splendid brick factory that will give constant employ- 
ment to a large number of persons. A boot and shoe 
factory is one of the late improvements, and a starch 
factory is now under construction. Deep-water com- 
munication has attracted the attention of factory 
men, and it is now a city of factories. The increase 
in population has been very heavy, business has been 
brisk, and there is hardly an idle man in its limits. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 149 

This is the great shipping point of Sonoma county. 
Silk culture is a new industry that has sprung up 
during the past year. Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Son- 
oma and Guerneville, showed a large increase in 
business over 1891, and the prospects for an even more 
prosperous 3^ear for 1893 are very bright. The pros- 
pect of imUicing the Government to v.n'den and 
straighten Petaluma creek, and dredt>e Bodega bav, 
is good. These improvements would be of incalcu- 
lable benefit to Sonoma countv. 



APA COU]S"TY was not one of the original 
twenty-seven subdivisions of the State. It 
was organized in April, 1857, and from territory 
which had been reclaimed from the Indians, l^apacity 
being built on the site of a village formerly occupied by 
the Napa tribe of Indians. 

George C. Yount was Napa's first white settler. 
He estimated that there were 5,000 Indians in Napa 
valley when he went there in 1831, but most of them 
succumbed to the smallpox epidemic which swept off 
so many thousands in 1833. Yount spent most of his 
time in hunting and trapping when he first came, as 
game was very plentiful. He built the first log cabin 
house erected in the State by an American. That was 
in 1836. The hut was eighteen feet square below, and 
had an upper story twenty-two feet square, in the 
usual block-house fashion. He left portholes in the 
walls, through which he frequently defended himself 
from the Indians, who were very troublesome at that 
time. It was a number of years after Yount's time 
before any more permanent settlers came to Napa. 



150 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Those who did come, about 1839-40 and later, acquired 
land near Napa City's site. In 1841 a noted Russian 
naturalist named Wosnessensky visited the country 
and left a copper plate on the summit of Mount 
St. Helena. Afterward the United States geological 
surveyors removed it to preserve it. 

Napa never was a mining county and, with the 
exception of a few quicksilver deposits, there have 
been no valuable minerals found in her limits. Several 
mineral springs exist in the county, of which the Napa 
Soda Springs is the most prominent. 

The grape, wine and brandy industries of Napa have 
brought that county prominently to the front in the 
last few years. It is generally conceded that Napa 
leads in winemaking which is now so important an 
industry to the State. Probably her sandy soil and 
warm hillsides contribute more than anything else to 
the success of her vineyards. Grain in Napa also does 
exceedingly well and many very large farmers devote 
much land to its culture. In the orchards all fruits 
thrive no less successfully than do the grapes. The 
wine cellars of the county, which seem to be almost as 
numerous as the ranches, are some of the very finest 
in the United States; A great number of them are 
constructed of stone, and others are large, deep tunnels 
dug in the side of the hills. These latter, penetrating 
solid rock, are always clean, dry and cool. 

One of the finest properties of the county is the 
Suscol ranch, founded long ago by General Vallejo. 
The fruits and nuts from that place have yielded im- 
mense profits. The Suscol was the scene of a very act- 
ive and sanguinary battle between Indians and a gallant 
little band of soldiers under General Yallejo in 1835. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 151 

The general only lost two men killed, several being 
wounded. The troops killed over 200 of the Indians. 
The savages were still for war, but the arrival of re- 
enforcements for the Spaniards quieted them. 

The great and promising industry of the county is the 
growing of olives. Mountains and hills heretofore 
deemed of but little value, and that only for grazing pur- 
I)oses, are being planted to olives, and the hardy trees 
are doing so well that others are encouraged to follow 
the example. of the pioneers in this industry. So firm 
a hold on the attention of the thrifty farmer has the 
industry attained that it promises to become a leading 
industry of the vicinity, and that ere long. 



WOLO was made a county in 1850, and Fremont 
was designated as the county seat. The name 
is a corruption of "Yo-doy,'- meaning tule land. 
William Gordon settled in what is now Yolo county in 
1842. In 1843 the Mexican government granted him a 
peice of land one league wide and two leagues long, and 
described as being along " Jesus Maria river," now 
Cache creek, deriving its name from the hunters' habit 
of cacheing furs along its banks. A number of other 
white settlers selected places near Gordon's ranch, and 
in 1845 wheat was harvested there, and considerable 
stock raised. Nathan Coombs was the father of the 
first child born there. 

When the gold excitement broke out, nearly all the 
male residents of Yolo left for the mines. The next 
year they began to come back. Jonas Spect brought 
a schooner load of merchandise from Sacramento, and 
the town of Fremont was started. After a few months 



152 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

it was again deserted and but two tents occupied by 
white people and a few Indians in adobes, remained 
to mark the site. When the winter drove the miners 
down into the valley, Fremont had a population of 
1,300. 

Recent years have seen important works o." reclama- 
tion and improvement, with a general fostering of 
naturally abundant resources, until to-day Yoloisunsui- 
passedas a happy and prosperous farming community. 
A productive soil, a sufficient water supply, a climate 
favorable to vegetable life, fine transportation facilities 
and superior educational advantages are the resources 
which, combined, have placed Yolo in the list of the 
leading counties of California. In an annual rainfall 
of sixteen inches there is a guarantee against crop fail- 
ures, and drouths are unknown. 

In Capay valley, the Tancred and other colonies, 
which were disposed of to eastern farmers, are a 
picture of thrift and enterprise. Residences have been 
erected by the colonists, and the farms are in a splendid 
state of cultivation. The colonies established by the 
Capay Yalley Land Company are also advancing 
rapidly. 



ACRAMENTO COUNTY is one of the most 
historical in the whole State. It was the seat of 
business of the interior in pioneer days, and the center 
from which the miners started and to which they 
nearly always returned. Sacramento city is inseparably 
linked with the bustle and furor of the gold excitement, 
and the discovery that set the world afire was directly 
attributable to the settlement of that city. Sacramento's 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 153 

history is the story of Captain Sutter, whose enter- 
prising spirit it was that directed its settlement in the 
midst of trials and dangers that were too much for 
his first supporters. 

Sutter came to the United States from the Duchy 
of Baden, where he was born in 1814, landing at New 
York. He came West almost at once and settled in 
Missouri. In 1838 he went with a party of hunters 
and trappers to Oregon. He wanted to reach Cal- 
ifornia, but this was then a hard matter. First he went 
to the Hawaiian islands, and from there to Sitka. He 
sailed the vessel which took him to Sitka down to 
San Francisco bay, arriving in 1839. The Mexican 
officials notified him to get out of the country, and 
told him that Monterey was the port of entry. At 
Monterey Governor Alvarado signified an eager readi- 
ness to let Sutter settle on the Sacramento river, as 
the Indians were very hostile. Sutter returned to 
San Francisco and chartered a schooner to go up the 
river. No one could tell him where to find the Sacra- 
mento, and he was eight days hunting for its entrance 
to the bay. He and his party proceeded up into the 
Feather river, but the dangers of its channel compelled 
him to return to the Sacramento. At this juncture 
three of his white men left, and returned to Yerba 
Buena (San Francisco). Others remained with him, 
as did a lot of Kanakas whom he had brought from 
Sitka. 

Sutter immediately commenced the erection of a 
fort to protect himself and party from the Indians. 
He afterwards embarked in agricultural ventures 
with great success. In 1840 several white men who 
had come across the mountains joined Sutter, and his 



154 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

settlement soon received numerous other acquisitions. 
That year the Indians were unusually warlike, and a 
battle ensued in which the natives were routed. 

In June, 1841, Sutter was declared a citizen of 
Mexico, and the land at his place, called " New Hel- 
vetia," was granted to him. It comprised eleven 
square leagues of territory. Every new arrival, foreign 
or otherwise, who came near joined Sutter's party, and 
New Helvetia grew in prosperity every day. "When 
the war broke out with Mexico, Sutter, although a 
Mexican officer, extended every kindness and courtesy 
to the Americans and their forces. He readily hoisted 
the American flag before the war was closed, and after- 
ward, when his fort was garrisoned by Lieutenant 
Missoon, of the United States navy, Sutter was put in 
command. 

Prosperity increased after the war and Sutter started 
new enterprises. In the latter part of ISiS he had 
over a thousand acres in wheat; he had erected a saw- 
mill at Coloma (the famous Marshall city) and had 
nearly finished a large and expensive gristmill at the 
fort. Then one of his men, Marshall, found the yellow 
metal at the saw-mill, and this marked the commence, 
ment of Sutter's downfall. His employes deserted him 
immediately, the grain crop went to ruin, and he lost 
twenty- five thousand dollars on the first mill, which 
could not be finished. A large tannery was also 
abandoned with quantities of leather in the vats. 

The rush of immigration commenced at once, and 
Sacramento became one of the liveliest and most 
cosmopolitan cities that the United States ever saw 
within so short a period. The wondeful times when 
men grew wealthy in a few days were fairly started. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 155 

Sutter now began to lose everything. He had no men -^' 
left to protect his interests, so that his horses, cattLgi, 
hogs, lands, everything, were appropriated. Sacra- 
mento city commenced about Sutter's Fort as soon as 
the excitement was well spread. The first survey was 
made in December of 1848. Sutter and others de- 
termined to start a town before the discovery and did so. 
It was called Sutterville. This village flourished until 
Sacramento was started as a rival. Consequent upon 
the indiscriminate flocking of all sorts and conditions 
of people to the new town and the meager shelter that 
the tents and rude huts afforded, there was a tremendous 
amount of sickness in the place soon after things got 
started. Attendance, protection and medicine cost 
heavily. Men died by the score. Cofiins were an ex- 
pensive luxury and many were buried in blankets. In 
the fall the rains and floods came, adding to the misery. 
The excitement was unabated, however, and hundreds 
of new comers arrived each day, and buildings went up 
like magic. As soon as people began to settle upon 
land the "squatter troubles" commenced. Many in- 
nocently occupied lands long before granted by Mexico 
to holders of large tracts, and spent much money and 
time thereon. Others thought they could beat the 
Mexican title, and many did so. Some bought their 
lands, but litigation and trouble started everywhere. 
No one respected any title which conflicted with his 
own. A party of citizens at last decided to remove a 
lot of shanties and cabins that obstructed the river 
levee and they tore the flimsy abodes down right over 
the owners' heads. A riot ensued at one time and 
several people were killed. This and others were 
called "squatter riots," as the organized squatters were 



156 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

conducting the offensive measures. A suit was brought 
and the judgment, even on appeal, was agamst the 
squatters. Other riots broke out immediately, and 
murders were committed every day. Several of the 
city officers, including the sheriff, McKinney, were 
killed. The citizens organized and military aid was 
sent from San Francisco. The squatters were finally 
overcome. 

Amid all of the excitement and tribulations Sacra- 
mento county was organized by the Sacramento legisla- 
ture at San Jose, and Sacramento city was made the 
county seat. The capital of the State underwent many 
changes of locality in the next four years. San Jose 
was too small to accommodate the officers and attaches 
of the first session, hence the next meeting was called 
at Monterey. Yallejo and Benicia then started a war 
over the seat of State government, and both were 
at different times the capital of California. Sacra- 
mento offered the^use of its court-house and vaults, and 
ultimately secured the legislature. This was in 1854. 
The supreme court judges decided that San Jose was 
still the legal capital and caused the records to be re- 
moved to that city. Some new judges decided that 
Sacramento was the capital, and then preparations 
were commenced for a Capitol building. Various plans 
fell through, and it was 1860 before the building was 
commenced. The structure was to be finished in ten 
months, but it was 1869 before everything was 
completed. 

During the past year the progress of Sacramento 
has shown a marked improvement over that of the 
previous year. While no booms or spasmodic advance- 
ments, with consequent depressions, have occurred, yet 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 157 

a steady and continuous progress has been made. 
This is particularly noticeable in the freight shipments. 
One of the most important steps taken by the city 
during the past year was tlie permanent- improvement 
of the levees. Several months ago individual members 
of the board of trade organized themselves into a 
levee improvement committee and tlirough their stren- 
uous efforts the board of city trustees decided to call 
a special election, at which bonds to the amount of 
$100,000 were voted to raise and improve the levees. 
Since then the levees have been strengthened and 
raised and a feeling of absolute security from floods 
now prevails. 

According to the figures furnished by the Southern 
Pacific Company, the total shipments of fruit from 
Sacramento during the year aggregated the enormous 
amount of 161,368,000 pounds, which is almost twice 
as much as shipped from any point except San Fran- 
cisco. The total shipments of deciduous green fruit 
exceeded the tonnage of the previous year by nearly 
50,000,000 pounds. According to a well-informed 
authority Sacramento stands first in the amount of 
tonnage of green fruits, second in the shipments of 
potatoes, vegetables, raisins and beans, and third in 
shipments of cannedand dried fruits. It is a notice- 
able fact that the shipments from Sacramento during 
the past year amount to more than 21,000,000 pounds 
in excess of the shipments from the entire State in 
1888, and 11,000,000 pounds more than the entire 
shipments from California in 1889. 

During the year a vast amount of building has been 
done in the residence portion of the city. Among the 
new buildings may be mentioned the post-ofRce, which 



158 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

is rapidly nearing completion. This building is situated 
at the corner of Seventh and K streets, and will cost 
$150,000. It is a model of architectural beaut}^ and 
when completed will be one of the most iinposino- 
structures in Sacramento. It is the intention of the 
designers to make it one of the most complete post- 
offices in the State, In the business portion of the 
city a number of extensive improvements have been 
made. 

At the State capital very many fine improve- 
ments have been made. Electricity has been intro- 
duced into the building, while the Senate and 
Assembly chambers have been refitted and remodeled. 
The Governor's office and the State library have also 
received the attention of artisans. 

At the present tinae a project is on foot to annex 
Washington township to Sacramento. A number of 
business men of the city have taken the matter in 
hand and are working industriously in the interest of 
annexation. As was expected, the proposition has 
been met with considerable opposition by a majority 
of the residents of Washington. They seem to 
think that they can take care of the little town across 
the river without the guidance of the people of Sac- 
ramento. Several joint meetings have been held, but 
the scheme is as far from being consummated now as 
it was several months ago. 

Since the first of the year two electric railway lines 
have been built in Sacramento. One is known as the 
P street line, the other as the K street line. The Fol- 
som Water Power Company has secured a fran- 
chise to build and operate an electric road, and when 
this is completed all parts of the city can be easily 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 159 

reached. The Southern Pacific Company is contem- 
plating the erection of a new freight depot. The 
present site is considered inadequate, and it would not 
be surprising to see the preliminary work of a new 
depot commenced in the immediate future. Other 
notable improvements are spoken of, but it is doubtful 
if the)'' will be commenced before next year. 



MADOR COUNTY was organized from a portion 



^^ of Calaveras county in 1854. It contained 
the liveliest camps in the State during the early 
mining days, notably lone valley and Mokelumne 
hill, at least one man being killed during Saturday or 
Sunday for seventeen consecutive weeks. At Jackson 
was a live oak which became famous as " hanging 
tree," so many criminals having expiated their offenses 
upon it. In 1862 it became injured by fire, and had 
to be cut down ; but it was perpetuated by being 
engraved on the county seal. 

Staging was started in 1853 between Sacramento 
and the Amador mines. The fare was $20 each way. 
Horses cost from $300 to $600 each ; stages from 
$1,000 to $3,000 ; drivers received $150 per month, and 
hay cost $100 a ton. Up to 1860 the placers were panning 
out millions in gold, the quartz mines began to show 
great richness, and agriculture was taking a permanent 
stand. Churches and schools sprang up in every settle- 
ment. Then came the rush to the great Comstock, and to 
Frazer river in British Columbia, and Amador was 
depopulated almost as rapidly as it had filled up, 
when the excitement of gold-finding in her own 
borders in 1849 began. Before many months they 
began to return. 



160 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Hydraulic mining started in Amador as early as 
1853-4. Tin pipes were used, with a pressure of about 
thirty feet. This method of mining soon advanced to 
the wonderful completeness that afterwards made it 
so marvellously effective, and sent mountains scurry- 
ing down the streams, creatmg an antagonism on the 
part of valley ranchmen which finally caused the sup- 
pression of hydraulic mining. Quartz mining has been 
continued in Amador and some large deposits of rich cop- 
per discovered and worked. The quartz mines are on the 
" mother lode," and the hope is perennial that it may 
be struck rich any day, resulting in another Comstock. 
The old mines are prosperous, and new ones are being- 
opened. Increased acreage is being planted to fruit, 
and the prosperity of the county is on a souEd basis. 



ARIN COUNTY is as it was established by 
the original sub-division, one of the smallest, 
but with a greater coast line than any other county in 
the State. It shares proprietorsliip with San Fran- 
cisco in the world-renowned Golden Gate. Beautiful 
San Rafael has been the seat of government since the 
organization of the county. 

Marin has its name from a chief of the Lacatuit 
Indians. He and his braves conquei'ed the Spaniards 
about the years 1815 and 1824, but Marin was finally 
captured. He escaped and took refuge upon a small 
island in San Francisco bay, and his name attached to 
the mainland to the north. Geographically, Marin is 
a peninsula, and a very rugged one at that. Its western 
coast, rocky, barren and steep, is very dangerous to 
navigation. Inland the majestic peak of Mount 



CALIFORXIA GOLD BOOK, 161 

Tamalpais, nearly 5,000 feet in elevation, is a notable 
and picturesque landmark for the country for miles 
around. The name is said to have originated from 
the residence of the old Tamal Indians near its base 
long ago. 

If ancient history makes no errors it is likely that 
Sir Francis Drake was the first vrhite man to visit 
what is now Marin county. Also, if he did enter the 
little bay named for him, it is likely that the Golden 
Gate of to-day did not then exist, and that an old 
Indian legend that an earthquake rent the coast asunder 
there is true. Otherwise it seems scarcely possible to 
explain Drake's failure to discover it. It is undisputed 
that in 1595 Sebastian Cermenon was wrecked near 
Punta de los Ee3'es( Point Reyes). In 1602 Sebas- 
tian Vizcaino found the wreckage, which he described 
as being in the port of San Francisco. This makes 
it seem as if the big bay did not exist at that time, 
and the little Drake's bay was called San Francisco 
port. 

Descending to days that sound more modern the 
histories and records of Marin claim the first house 
built in the State, north of the bay of San Francisco. 
It was a lone structure erected about the year 1776 at 
an Indian settlement called Olompali, near the Sonoma 
line. Some traveling Spaniards found the Indians, and 
in return for hospitalities taught the savages to make 
huts. It was the father of Camillo Ynitia, chief of the 
tribe, who constructed the house. Indian remains are 
still to be found near old Olompali, and many relics 
have been unearthed there. 

In 1817 the Mission San Rafael was founded by 
Father Ventura Fortuni. By 1842 the mission was 



162 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

almost destroyed. There had been hundreds of the 
Jouskionmes Indians at the mission up to 1834, when 
their numbers began to dwindle. A few years later a 
hostile tribe drove the holy friars away from the 
county. 

John I. Read was the first white settler who 
remained in the county. He took up his residence in 
Sausalito in 1826, and afterward went to Sonoma 
county, returning to Sausalito in 1832. He plied a 
small boat, the first ferry on the baj^ which he ran 
between his place and Yerba Buena or San Francisco. 
In 1834 he received a grant of the rancho "Corte 
Madera del Presidio" from the Mexicans, and erected the 
first saw-mill in the county, the framework of which is 
still standing at Mill Yalley. Before 1840 several more 
settlers came to Marin. This last year brought a 
number of early pioneer adventurers to the county. 
Quite a number of Mexican grants were made to 
various men and families, who settled all over Marin 
before the war with Mexico broke out. Afterward 
the gold chase brought many people into the northern 
portion of the county, but that section was not much 
settled until 1852. 

The cities and towns of Marin are as pretty and 
picturesque as any in this wonderful State of flowers 
and sunshine. San Rafael, with its old traditions of 
a mission established in 1817, with its orchards, vines 
and roses, surrounded by the warmest and greenest of 
hills, is still the most important city in the county. 
Sausalito, snug from the Pacific's wind and fogs, 
perched romantically upon the hillside, is a general 
favorite as a summer resort and a retreat for city- 
wearied people. The whole of Mann county, from 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 16S 

the rock}'^, stormbeaten coast of Point Reyes, to the 
majestic summit of Mount Tamalpais, and beyond to 
the verdant hills and undulating valleys, presents a 
picture of beaut}', happiness and comfort. 

The larger proportion of Marin county is hilly, but 
the hills are covered with verdure, kept green by the 
heavy dews from the ocean nearly the entire year, and 
make splendid pasturing for the immense herds of fine 
dairy cattle which supply San Francisco with milk. 
Where planted to grapes, the finest are produced from 
which the best flavored clarets are made. In an hour's 
ride of San Francisco are virgin forests of redwood, 
and Sequoia canyon is said to contain 1,000 acres of 
these rare trees, from which few have been cut. It 
ought to be retained unrautilated for the benefit of the 
millions who wnll inhabit San Francisco and Marin 
counties in the future, when the redw^ood and the buf- 
falo have become traditions, and who will appreciate 
the grandeur of these symmetrical trees, whose sway- 
ing crowns are kissed by the passing clouds. 

The towns of Point Reyes, Tomales and Novato are 
in the center of the dairying district, carrying on a 
brisk traffic in dairy produce, at which places there 
have been several large creameries established to meet 
the constantly growing demand for butter and cheese. 
Sausalito, Belvidere, Mill Valley and Larkspur, are 
much sought for as resorts for pleasure and home build- 
ing. Boiinas, an obscure little town, is beautifully 
situated on the shore of Boiinas bay. Outside of 
Marin county, probably very little is known of it, as it 
has not as yet any railroad communication with the 
outside world. Its locality abounds in natural re- 
sources, chiefly mineral, and it is to be regretted that 



164 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

tliey are undeveloped. The bluflfs, extending for a 
Jong distance up the coast, are deeply streaked with 
rich veins of bitumen, resembling the Santa Cruz for- 
mation. At the base of these bluffs may be seen tiny 
springs of petroleum bubbling from the earth, while 
the atmosphere in that vicinity is redolent of the odor 
of coal oil, denoting a large How of that valuable com- 
modity. 

A few yards from the shore, on Diixbury reef, is a 
constant and extensive supply of natural gas, which 
forces itself from the living rocks, and when ignited, a 
numbei- of jets of flame, some several feet in height, 
are plainly visible. Prominent State mineralogists 
have pronounced it in unlimited supply. Farther in- 
land, in the high ridge of hills overlooking Bolinas, are 
rich copper leads, as in some places specimens of the 
blue mineral may be found on the surface. Large coal 
beds also exist here, and were being worked by private 
parties a short time ago, but for want of capital and 
lack of transportation facilities, were abandoned. 
With a railroad, Bolinas as a pleasure resort would 
rival the most popular watering places on the Pacific 
coast. Its surf bathing surpasses that of Santa Cruz, 
and it has also a pebbly beach which is much larger and 
where can be found finer pebbles than at Pescadero,' 
while its climate is absolutely delightful. Marin county 
is slowly progressing, but with a railroad to Bolinas, 
which will open new resources, her prosperity will be 
increased immeasurably. 



^^ OLANO COUNTY has more miles of navigable 
"^^ waters washing its soil than any inland county 
in the State. It surrounds Suisun bay, and its south- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 165 

east boundary is the Sacramento river. Solano was 
declared a county in 1850, but it was two years before 
the organization was perfected. Solano had its name 
from an old Indian chief, and he was named by the 
missionary, Francisco Solano, who christened him when 
he embraced the Christian religion. Chief Solano was 
given the Suisun grant, containing 17,700 acres. The 
members of the tribe of Solano, previously called Seni 
Yete, had their headquarters at Eockville. 

There are no mountains in Solano, but many good 
sized hills, and these are very productive. Very little 
gold or other valuable mineral has been found in the 
county. Ijuilding stone, some marble and large quar- 
ries of basalt rock, are utilized. But as a fruit pro- 
ducer, Solano county has obtained high reputation. 
The first CaUfornia fruits presented to the Queen of 
England were sent by the great and successful horti- 
culturist, A. T. Hatch, one of the World's Fair Com- 
missioners, and were acknowledged as follows: 

OsBOKNK, lath August, 1892. 
Sir : 

1 have received the commands of tlie Queen to con- 
vey to you the expression of Her Majesty's thanks for 
your attention in sending, as an offering to Her Ma- 
jesty, a case containing pears, peaches, nectarines, 
[)runes and plums, from California, which she has been 
pleased to accept. I should mention that they arrived 
in good condition, and that they were served at the 
Royal table. 

I am. Sir, your obedient servant, 

J. C. COWELL, 

Master of the IIouBeftold, 
Me. a. T. Hatch, 

Sui.sun, California. 



166 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

The pioneers of Solano county were the family of 
William Wolfskill. Wolfskill came to California in 
1828, but settled upon a Mexican grant of four leagues 
of land upon the Rio do los Futos, in Solano, in 1842. 
There were only four white families in the county in 
1846. The valleys then were covered with a splendid 
growth of wild oats, and herds of wild cattle and 
horses roamed with bands of elk and deer. 

After the success of the American arms over Mex- 
ico there was much bitter litigation over land titles. 
Considerable blood was shed over disputes which oc- 
curred out of court. Six of the Mexican grants, some 
of the largest of which were overthrown, covered 
nearly all of the arable land in the county at that 
time. 

In 1848 Benicia was visited by General "W. T. Sher- 
man. He found a solitary adobe house there, occupied 
by a Mr. Hastings and family, with Doctor Semple, 
proprietor of a small ferry-boat. Benicia started oat 
to be the metropolis of the State. It was incorporated 
in 1849, or 1850, as a city, at about which time the 
"government located its barracks there. In 1852 the 
Pacific Mail Steamship Company erected works there. 
In 1859 Benicia was, for a time, the State capital, and 
for a long time it was the county seat. The town 
erected quite a pretentious State building at its own 
expense, but it soon lost the capital, which was re- 
moved to Sacramento. In 1858 the county seat was 
removed to Fairfax. The Pacific Mail Company also 
left and came to San Francisco. Benicia hardly sus- 
tained the shock of so many removals, but finally 
recovered. 

There are prosperous little towns all over the county 



CALIFORN-JA GOLD BOOK. 167 

of Solano, but Benicia and Yallejo are the most impor- 
tant. In Rockville, the old camp of the Indians, the 
first blacksmith shop in the county was erected in early 
days, by John M. Perry. This brawny smith pro- 
duced several rude plows, which he sold for sixty-five 
dollars apiece. The leading towns of the county show 
an improved condition of affairs, particularly Vallejo, 
Yacaville and Dixon, and while other towns have not 
shown such great advancement, they have held their 
own. Besides having to her credit a number of indus- 
tries of which any town might be proud, these have 
had a very prosperous year. The greatest projected 
enterprise, the realization of which means more for 
Yallejo than anything else, is that of bringing pure 
crystal mountain water into the town, in a system to 
be owned by the city. The source of this system is at 
the great Yallejo falls, about fourteen miles distant in 
an air line. The estimated cost of the plant is $250,- 
000. The people have already given a two-thirds vote 
in favor of the issuance of the bonds, and the work of 
surveying, and preparation of plans, specifications and 
estimates, is completed. With the completion of this 
new water system, in which the Navy Department of 
the United States has manifested an equal interest 
with the people of Yallejo, the town looks for more 
good things to come. 



/^ONTRA COSTA COUNTY was one of the 
^^oiJ' orio^inal subdivisions of the State. According 
to General Yallejo it means " opposite coast," and was 
deemed appropriate because it was opposite San Fran- 
cisco. It contains 750 square miles, divided into 450 



168 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

of hill and mountain, 190 of valley, and 110 of marsh 
and tule lands. 

The Mount Diablo range of mountains, with the 
threat isolated peak itself, are prominent features in the 
typography of Contra Costa. The peak stands almost 
alone in the center of the county, and rising so abruptly 
possesses many advantages of observation. An inter- 
esting tradition of the origin of the name exists in 
Contra Costa's store of legends. When the old Spanish 
Padres controlled the whole country they were visited 
by some Indians who brought nuggets of gold from 
Diablo. The natives already had inherited stories of 
a former vomiting of smoke and fire from the peak. 
The padres, to prevent them from depleting the hill of 
its golden treasures, took the gold, and, placing it in a 
tub of water which had been secretly poisoned, told 
the Indians to let their dogs drink the water. The 
animals satisfied their thirst there, and immediately 
died. The padres drew a harrowing picture of the 
destruction sure to follow if the Indians still sought 
the gold, and the vivid example of the death of the 
canines completed the fright of the simple aborigines. 
The gold was therefore unmolested by the savages, 
and the name of Monte Diablo, — " Devil's Mountain " 
— readily attached to the mysterious hill. 

Contra Costa and Alameda counties are closely 
united in their histories. They shared the same early 
explorers, settlers and traditions, and large tracts of 
land have belonged to both prior to the division that 
marks their present boundaries. In 1823, Francisco 
Castro and Ignacio Martinez made application to the 
Mexican authorities, the first for the San Pablo Eancho, 
|:he last for the Pinole Bancho, each four leagues in 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 169 

extent. These were the pioneer settlers of Contra 
Costa. They erected adobe houses, fenced off corrals 
for their cattle, planted their vines and orchards, and 
started in at extensive reclamation of the wild coun- 
try. Among their nearest neighbors w^ere the Peraltas 
family, who then owned nearly or quite all of Ala- 
meda county, and the Castros at San Lorenzo. A 
number of Mexican families followed in the next few 
succeeding years, generally applying for and acquiring 
tracts four leagues in extent. In 1835, thirty citizens 
of this portion of California petitioned the govern- 
ment, then at Monterey, to permit them to attach 
themselves to San Jose for judicial purposes. After 
considerable "red tape" the petition was granted. 
The first American settler was Dr. John Marsh, who 
purchased the Los Meganos Rancho in 183Y. By the 
year 1840, when war broke out between the United 
States and Mexico, a considerable number of immi- 
grants had come to settle in the valley of Contra 
Costa. At that time an estimate places the total of 
Americans in California at TOO. 

Martinez, the beautiful little town of to-day, with 
its cheerful, cozy residences, was long the foremost 
city of Contra Costa. Ten years after it got a start 
there were quite a number of flourishing business 
houses there and schools attended by 358 children. 
About this time the most important discoveries of coal 
mines in the Contra Costa hills were made. A number 
of splendid veins were opened and have been furnish- 
ing fuel ever since. Some of the coal mines in the 
Mount Diablo region are capable of an output of 150 
tons per day, but they have not been worked to their 
full capacity recently, owing to the closing down 



170 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

of a number of large factories, and the demand for 
coal being less. 

Petroleum at various places was also discovered 
in Contra Costa county, but although parties 
spent thousands of dollars in the development of 
the wells, the oil was never found in quantities 
to pay for the trouble and expense. There is, 
however, a possibility that in the near future the 
oil industry will be developed in this county. A 
well is being sunk near La Fayette for that purpose. It 
is now down over 200 feet and yields a considerable 
amount of paraffine oil. Gas constantly is liberated 
by the bore, and the well borers estimate that suffi- 
cient escapes to illuminate a small house. 

The county's railroad facilities have heretofore been 
limited to the Southern Pacific main line, running 
along its eastern and northern borders, and the Liver- 
more branch through Alameda county, leaving its 
rich interior a long distance from railroad communi- 
cation. This has been one of the great drawbacks to the 
development of the county, but the Southern Pacific 
Railroad has this 5^ear built a branch road through the 
Ygnacio and San Ramon valleys, giving better accom- 
modations and shipping facilities to the farmers and 
residents. 

Fifty -five acres of valuable water front near Mar- 
tinez were sold recently, the supposition being that it 
was to be used by the Salt Lake and San Francisco 
Railroad. Surveys have been made through the 
county, and talk of a competing railroad is heard on 
every side. Such an enterprise would be of estimable 
benefit to Contra Costa county and to the State at 
large. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 171 

/f^ALAVERAS COUNTY is one of the original 
^^^ twenty-seven subdivisions of California. The 
name Calaveras, signifying skulls, is said to have been 
given to the river so-called by one Gabriel Moraga, a 
famous early-day Indian fighter, on account of the great 
number of skulls which he found there, ghastly relics 
of a deadly battle between the Indians of the plains 
and those of the mountains over the salmon fisheries 
of the stream. As originally laid out this county 
included portions of what are now included within 
Tuolumne, Alpine and Amador counties. It owed 
its settlement in the first place to the flood of miners 
who, radiating from the central points of Sacramento 
and Stockton, followed up all the streams heading in 
the Sierra Nevada, prospecting their beds for the gold 
which they found in large quantities. One of the richest 
of these streams was Drycreek, and in the region drained 
by it quickly sprang up the settlements of Amador, 
Sutter and Volcano, which under subsequent quartz 
development sustained themselves as flourishing towns, 
and the first two of which are to this day thrifty and 
prosperous. Mining was commenced at Volcano in 
the same year that the discovery was made at Coloma, 
and in 1853 the town had a population of 5,000 and 
supported a newspaper. 

Sutter Creek was incorporated in 1856 and still 
retains a good measure of prosperity, presenting a 
marked contrast to most of the old mining towns of 
the foothills. While Pleasant Valley was designated 
by the act forming Calaveras county as the seat of 
government, Jackson is the first place mentioned in 
local history as having enjoyed the honor, while the 
place originally selected is now only a memory. Jack- 



173 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

son was founded in 1848 and was at first called 
Botellas, the name being subsequently changed to the 
one it now bears. Subsequently the county seat was 
removed to Mokelumne Hill, and in 1866 San An- 
dreas carried off the prize, retaining it until the present 
day. 

South of San Andreas or San Andres, as it should 
correctly be, Carson and Angels sprang into promi- 
nence at an early day. The first named place is little 
more than a memory now, although its mines have 
yielded large sums. Angels still holds its own, 
having a number of quartz mines that have paid steadily 
ever since their discovery. In 1864 the discovery of 
valuable silver lodes in the eastern part of the county 
led to the segregation of a large section on the east- 
ern slope of the Sierra Nevada, which was erected 
into Alpine county. 

Calaveras had within its borders, when first estab- 
lished, a number of places which attained large prom- 
inence and subsequently declined until little but their 
names remained. Among these was Yeomet, at the 
junction of the north and south forks of the Cosumnes j 
Muletown, Drytown, Fiddletown, etc. Among the 
places whicii maintain much of their former importance 
are Copperopolis, Murphys and Milton. In this county 
are some of the most productive mines in the State^ 
and the mineral deposits are practically inexhaustible. 
The baser metals, copper, iron, cinnabar, etc., are found 
in abundance, and ledges of marble, limestone and 
granite, and undeveloped deposits of coal, are known 
to exist. Among the mineral deposits is a veritable 
mountain of paint, which for extent and variety of col- 
ors is probably unsurpassed in the world. In the east- 



CALIFORMfA GOLD BOOK. 178 

ern portion of the county is a vast timber belt of mag- 
nificent extent, which is comparatively untouched ; 
live oak, sugar and nut pine predominate. Several 
most interesting natural wonders are also to be found 
there, among which are the world-renowned big trees, 
the great cave, with its magnificent chambers and won- 
derful stalactites, the natural bridge, etc. While the 
principal industry is mining, considerable attention is 
given to agriculture and fruit raising. Old mining ditches 
have been converted into irrigating canals, and in the 
mountains huge reservoirs have been constructed for the 
preservation of water Calaveras is destined in time 
to attain large importance by reason of its horticultural 
and agricultural resources. 

During the year 1892 Calaveras county held her own 
in the onward course of the State. The mines about 
Angel's camp are improving, which fact verifies the 
assertion that that town will become one of the most 
important mining camps in the State. Gravel mining 
about Central hill and Chile junction is reported 
improving, new companies having taken hold of them 
who will rush their progress and output for 1893; 
Mokelumne Hill also about the same as the past year, 
although considerable mining is being done there- 
abouts. Citrus fruits and nut culture is receiving 
attention. 



_ LPINE COUNTY was formed in March, 18C4, 

^^^ out of those portions of El Dorado, Amador, 

Calaveras and Mono counties, lying near the summit 

of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the county seat 

established at Silver Mountain. The origin of the 
i 

I 



174 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

necessity for this subdivision is peculiar to raining 
regions. In 18G0 some scattering settlers were living at 
the end of the road leading southward from Genoa, 
Nevada, along the base of the Sierra. Late in the 
fall two or three Norwegians with burros passed that 
place and disappeared in the unknown region beyond. 
A few weeks later they emerged. The following spring 
they returned, frequently passing back and forth, 
adding others to tneir number, and soon they reported 
the discovery of rich silver mines at a place they called 
Silver Mountain. As the first few cabins constructed 
in the vicinity began to assume the proportions of a 
town it was christened, after a silver mine in Norway, 
Koniffsberg'. but afterward became knowm as the town 
of Silver Mountain. Prospectors flocked in and 
swarmed over the country. It was a part of the great 
Washoe excitement. Toll roads were constructed from 
various points "' to the town of Konigsberg or Silver 
Mountain in the counties of El Dorado and Ainador," 
to a point kaown as Silver Mountain in Mono county, 
as the records have it. It was not known for a time 
to what political division of the State this locality 
belonged. No one had to pay taxes, and every one was 
arbiter of his own rights. 

Aside from the mining interests another industry of 
considerable magnitude had sprung into existence. 
Sawlogs, square timber, and cordwood were cut and 
floated down the Carson river to Empire, Nev., for use 
at the Virginia mines and mills. Over 175,000 cords 
of wood went down in a single "drive." But mining 
was the all-absorbing industry, and gave hope 
and promise of great prosperity. A history of the 
mining enterprises will tell how those hopes were 



CALIFORNIA COLD BOOK. 175 

shattered, how chimerical tliuse promises proved, and 
why so many decaying mills, deserted homes and 
abandoned towns lie scattered about the beautiful 
Alpine hills lo-day. Abundance of ore was found 
which assayed well, and mills were erected for its 
reduction after the most approved plans for working 
the ores of the Comstock. But this ore could not be 
worked that way. It was not "free milling." Prac- 
tical methods had yet to be learned. Then began 
experiments with new "processes" — costly, discour- 
aging, disheartening processes! Silver mining was in 
its infancy. " Science creeps from point to point," 
and before success had been attained many companies 
failed. 

In 1889-90 the first successful process for working 
the rebellious ores of this vicinity was introduced b}^ 
Ottokar Hoffman at the Colorado No. 2 mine. Lewis 
Chalmers also had worked successfully the ores of the 
Morning Star by a similar process. These two mines 
were among the last to be Avorked, and could be pay- 
ing dividends, but mismanagement caused them to be 
closed down. There are good mines in Al])ine, 
although not a single stroke of work is being done in 
an}'' of them to-day. 

The natural advantages here are good. In the north- 
ern part of the county, embracing a portion of Carson 
valley, are some fine farms. Grain crops, vegetables 
and hay never fail. Many kinds of fruit thrive well. 
Ko finer apples are grown in the world. The atmos- 
phere is dry and irrigation necessary, but water of the 
purest kind is in abundance and to spare. From the 
Blue lakes and other reservoirs water is supplied to 
mills, farms and towns of other counties. Many 



176 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

bands of horses, cattle and sheep from other parts of 
the State and from Nevada are grazed and fattened 
here. There is not a practicing lawyer, doctor, incar- 
cerated criminal or pauper in the county, and the 
Indians are peaceable, industrious and self-supporting. 
As a field for the sportsman and a place of healthful 
recreation for the invalid and those wishing to escape 
from business cares and the heated season of other 
localities, no better place can be found than Alpine 
county during July, August, September, October and 
November. 



^AN MATEO COUNTY, adjacent to the little 
^^^) county of San Francisco on the north, completes 
the peninsula formed by the bay and the Pacific 
ocean. The countv was not made at the original 
division, but w^as set apart in April of 1856. San 
Mateo was formed from what had been part of San 
Francisco county, and left the latter about room enough 
for the great metropolis. 

Prior to the war with Mexico there w^ere not over 
half a dozen settlers in what is now San Mateo, although 
some of these few had been there since 1835. Some 
had arrived earlier. Many immigrants came soon 
after the war opened. During the war one Francisco 
Sanchez raised quite a body of troops and fought the 
Americans at San Mateo with much success. When 
hostilities had ceased there were many people in the 
county, the first settlers occupying the western slope of 
the mountains. By 1852-3 the small village on the 
shore of the bay had begun to grow. For as much as 
three years after the organization of the county noth- 



CALllORMA GOLD BOOK. 177 

ing but the lumbering intei-ests were of importance as 
an industry. During 1852 a belief spread that the 
lands would be declared Government })roperty and the 
Mexican grants repudiated. Settlers rapidly took ])os- 
session of everything under this notion, and much 
trouble ensued. These squatters subsequently either 
purchased their lands or abandoned their locations. 

The lumbering interest of San Mateo first brought 
her into prominence, and for a long time was her chief 
industry. Her redwood forests were of great extent, 
and some of the trees rivaled the giant sequoias of 
Calaveras and Mariposa. In 1870 there was still 
standing, within twelve miles of Redwood City, a tree 
measuring seventy-five feet in circumference. There 
was also a hollow tree near Pescadero into which a 
horseman might easily ride, and in a jaollow tree near 
Dearsville seven wood -choppers made their bunks and 
slept. Before 1840 the "whipsaw" came to San 
Mateo, and by 1847 large numbers of mills w^ere in 
full blast. 

Menlo Park is improving rapidly, that being the 
home of the great Leland Stanford Junior University. 
Two miles east of Menlo Park, in the Ravenswood 
district, the foundations are laid for the Theological 
Seminary which the Catholics are building. This will 
be one of the largest and most complete educational 
institutions on the coast, and the only one of its kind. 
It has a fund of $300,000 for building, besides a mag- 
nificent tract of land. 

The increase of the assessment roll is a little less 
than $1,000,000 for the fiscal year, but if taken up to 
date the increase is estimated at over $2,000,000. 
Many of the large ranches that for vears have hin- 



178 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

dered the settlement and development of the county 
are being subdivided and sold in small tracts. Espec- 
ially is this so adjoining Redwood City, Menlo Park 
and San Mateo, where fruit orchards and cottages, as 
well as the more stately homes of the wealthy, are 
taking the place of cattle ranges. A feature of San 
Mateo county worthy of note is the splendid system of 
county roads. For years raucii money and careful 
attention have been bestowed on tlie roads, and during 
the year 1892 over $20,000 has been used for their 
improvement. The extension of the electric railroad 
into the north end of the county from San Francisco 
opens a splendid location for workmen's homes, and 
many have been built in the vicinity of Col ma and 
Ba,den. 

The South Si|^ Francisco Land and Improvement 
Company has just completed, about two miles from 
Baden station, at San Bruno point, an immense estab- 
lishment for slaughtering stock, packing meats, and for 
the manufacture of oleomargarine. Here also a town 
of about six hundred population has sprung up. The 
expenditure by the company represents over $1,000,- 
000. 



MT LAMBDA COUNTY was formed in 1853 from a 
_2^^ portion of Santa Clara and Contra Costa 
counties, of which it had previously formed a part. 
The county-seat was established at New Haven, now 
called Alvarado. Then it went to San Leandro, and 
finally to Oakland, where it will always remain. The 
county contains 512,000 acres of land, divided almost 
equally between hill and valley. Twenty thousand 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 179 

acres along the bay are overflowed by high tide. Tlie 
soil of the count}' is exceedingly fertile, and the nat- 
ural consequence is that 3very available acre is a gar- 
den spot, the residence sections being uniformly beau- 
tified with a luxuiiance of flowers and serai-tropical 
foliage. 

The earliest history of Alameda county is in the rec- 
ords of the explorations of the founders of the early 
California missions. These mission founders were the 
first whites to penetrate to the sites of Oakland, Ala- 
meda and other towns, covered at that time by a heavy 
growth of oaks and other trees. Don Pedro de 
AUerni, an emissary of the Catholic Church of S[)ain, 
seeking for suitable localities for missions, seems to 
have been the pioneer white explorer of Alameda. 
The real settlement began about 1820. Don Luis 
Maria Peralta, a native of Tubac, Sonora, in considera- 
tion of services rendered to the various old missions, 
was granted by Governor Don Pablo Vincento de 
Sola, a tract of land five leagues in extent, which 
embraced the present sites of Alameda and Oakland, 
reaching from San Leandro creek to the northern 
boundary of the county. Don Luis had a numerous 
family, and in 1842 he divided his estates equally 
between four sons. In a short time American settlers 
begau to flock in, and when a few years had witnessed 
the victory of the United States over Mexico, tiie 
accession of California to the Union, and the conse- 
quent overthrow of Mexican rule, the Peraltas saw 
their possessions slip away, and the flag of the Anglo- 
American settlers floating over the homes that they 
had improved, and by 1854 Oakland had become a 
citv. 



180 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOA\ 

The town of Alameda was laid out by Chipman and 
Anglinbaugh in 1852, and a number of landings for 
boats were constructed at the mouths of creeks. Ala- 
meda has progressed from the first, until now it is said 
to be the most beautiful town in the country. It has 
two railroads, which carry local passengers from end 
to end of the place free. Its cottages are neat and 
picturesque, and its sidewalks consist of miles and 
miles of white artificial stone, bordered b}' a selvage of 
ever green grass. Its water supply is ample in quan- 
tity and excellent in quality, and it is claimed to be a 
lovely bed-chamber for San Francisco business men, 
very many of wdiom o^vn residences there. Clean, 
healthy and quiet, it affords a charming retreat to 
some thousands whose days are spent in San Francisco. 
It will not be many years before Oakland and Ala- 
meda will be under the same name and local govern- 
ment. Their interests are identical. 

Oakland is a great city, and a beautiful and prosperous 
one. Being at the terminus of the overland lines of 
railroad, and several local lines, it may be styled a rail- 
road city. It has a number of electric railways travers- 
ing the city in every direction, and running beyond 
the city limits to the best farming lands in the county. 
Probably the best constructed electric railroad this side 
of the Rockies is the one just completed by the South- 
ern Pacific Company, and now in operation. It com- 
mences at First and Broadway, and goes out Telegraph 
avenue direct to the State University grounds. There 
are also two branches to the road, which will cut into 
Lorin and other small towns. The Meetz horse car 
line to Alameda is now being turned into an electric 
road. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 181 

The assessed value of the property in Alameda 
county in 1891 was $83,350,822, and in 1892 had 
increased to $89,371,681, or over $6,000,000. The tax 
levy in the county has been quite moderate when com- 
pared with some of the counties in the State. In 1890 
the State and county tax inside cities and towns was 
$1.00, and outside $1.30; in 1891 it was eighty-five 
cents inside and $1.15 outside, and in 1892 it was eighty 
cents inside and $1.10 outside. The county is run on a 
cash basis, all claims being paid in warrants, which are 
immediately cashed . 

The University of California, situated at Berkeley, 
founded and located in 1868, is a monument to its own 
achievements. The school, broad and liberal in its 
principles, ably appointed in every department, roman- 
tically situated under the shadows of the Berkeley hills, 
embowered in characteristic California loveliness, tells 
its own story. Its merit as one of the foremost insti- 
tutes of learning is unquestioned. 

The public schools in Oakland and Alameda county 
never were in a more flourishing condition than at the 
present time. Recently the people of Oakland voted 
bonds in the sum of $400,000 for the purpose of build- 
ing new school-houses. The issue runs for twenty 
years, and the bonds bear interest at the rate of four 
per cent, per annum. They were purchased by Arthur 
D. Thomson, president of the First National Bank of 
Oakland, who paid cash for them and a premium of 
$8,844, The construction of the new school-houses in 
Oakland has been commenced. The new high school 
building, which will cost $165,000, will be located on 
the block bounded by Eleventh, Twelfth, Jefferson and 
Grove streets. The new grammar schools will be 



182 CALIFOR.YIA COLD BOOK'. 

located in East Oakland, third ward and sixth wanl, 
and large additions will be made to some of the present 
school-houses. In the country many new school-houses 
have been built during the past year. At Livermore, a 
union high school is being constructed at a cost of 
$11,000; another at Centerville at a cost of 812,500, 
and a third at Haywai-ds at a cost of $5,500. Berke- 
ley has increased its school facilities by t^^o new 
school-houses, and a fine school building was recently 
completed in Bay district. The Piedmcut district also 
has a fine new school building. 

The work of improving the Oakland harbor has 
progressed finelv during the past year under the super- 
vision of the United States engineers. The work of 
the tidal canal has progressed slowly, for the reason 
that much time was spent in dredgmg the estuary. An 
effort will be made hy the citizens of Oakland to have 
the next Congress appropriate a sum sufficient to com- 
plete the impi-ovement. Contracts have been let by a 
number of private citizens for the building of wharves 
along the water front, an improvement which has long 
been needed. 

An important improvement now in progress is the 
construction of the boulevard around Lake Merritt. 
The people by a popular vote defeated a proposition to 
bond the city for $400,000 for a boulevard. The city 
council, however, decided to go ahead with the work 
that had been commenced, and has made an appropria- 
tion of $100,000 for the same. The boulevard will be 
paid for by a direct tax. Lake Merritt will be dredged 
and the boulevard will cut across the southeast corner 
of it, and thence northeasterly around the lake. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 183 

AN FRANCISCO CITY and county would fur- 
nish material for tiie most exciting history ever 
written. Its size and importance, compared with its 
age in years, is superior to that of any other city on 
the globe. Its progress has been identified with that 
of every other section of the State, and it is the pride 
of Californians, from San Diego to Del Norte, that they 
have helped to build it, and it is their metropolis. 

The belief in the careful supervision of an overruling 
Providence, producing events and discoveries exactly 
when His subjects are prepared to utilize them, re- 
ceives strong support from the history of the discovery 
of the entrance to the greatest and safest harbor in the 
world — the finding of the Golden Gate. To modern 
mariners the entrance to the magnificent bay of San 
Francisco is so capacious and well defined, and gives 
such unmistakable evidence of something of inesti- 
mable value beyond, to reward the greedy adventurer, 
that it is inexplicable to them how any one, sailing up 
or down the coast, could fail to have been attracted to 
it. History affirms that three different navigators of 
note passed Golden Gate unnoticed as far back as the 
sixteenth century. Sir Francis Drake was on the 
coast in July, 1579, and remained long enough to give 
his name to a small body of water on the Marin county 
coast. Vizcaino was on the coast in 1596. and again 
in 1602, and on the latter voyage discovered San Diego 
harbor, and the bay of Monterey, but saw nothing of 
the larger and more desirable bay of San Francisco. 
His last expedition had been fitted out by Count 
Monterev, and was intended as one of exploration, and 
to find and lay claim to everything valuable along the 
whole coast. 



184 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Still the bay of San Francisco remained undiscovered, 
in spite of the fact that Drake had spread glowing 
accounts of California and its wealth of gold and pearls. 
In Spain, dozens of small expeditions, whose object was 
to come here, failed utterly. Spain and England were 
both jealous of any territory that the other might 
acquire, but Spain did much more to become established 
in the new El Dorado than any other country. The 
discovery was finally accomplished by accident. The 
"beautiful bay" of Monterey had been carefuliy 
described by Vizcaino as he had seen it more than 150 
years before, and the mission fathers were bent on 
utilizing it. To that end an expedition was sent from 
San Diego in 1779 by land, to more thoroughly explore 
it, and discover all its advantages. Supplied with a 
fairly correct description, the expedition passed Mon- 
terey bay without recognizing it, and journeyed on to 
the hills over-looking the magnificent land-locked bay 
of San Francisco. For a time they were certain this 
was the bay of Monterey, but more thorough examina- 
tion convinced them that it was not, and that they had 
found a valuable harbor hitherto undiscovered. A 
patron saint, Francis, was supposed to have led them 
there, and it was therefore called San Francisco bay. 
The discoverers returned to San Diego and reported 
their find. Singularly the mission of San Francisco 
was not founded until six years later. June 27, 1776, 
the missionaries with their paraphernalia started for 
San Francisco by land, and settled upon the northern 
extremity of the peninsula that forms the present 
county, establishing their presidio about where the 
Government army headquarters is to-day. A vessel 
laden with goods, cattle, horses, sheep, hogs and every- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 185 

thing thought to be necessary, was started for the new 
mission by water, but did not land until August 18th 
following. September ITth solemn possession was 
taken of the presidio amid imposing ceremonies. The 
harbor was explored, and it was found that it had only 
one opening to the Pacific. The mission was taken 
possession of formally in !Xovember, '• when the w^ant 
of an organ was supplied by discharging the muskets, 
and the lack of incense was atoned for by the smell of 
burnt powder,-' says a historian of the time. The mis- 
sion was not established at the presidio, but further 
south, upon Mission creek, not far within the limits of 
the city of San Francisco, in that part still known as 
the Mission. It was not around these mission build- 
ings that Yerba Buena, or San Francisco was built, but 
rather between the mission and the presidio, at the little 
cove of Yerba Buena, opposite Yerba Buena island, 
known now as Goat island. The name Yerba Buena, 
signifying " good herb," was given for a small shrub 
which flourished abundantly all over the peninsula and 
the bay islands. 

Before 1S35 the village of Yerba Buena was not 
in existence. The Mexican government had decided 
to build a little town on the site near the little cove 
some time before anything was done. General Figiieroa, 
then governor, forbade any grants within a limit of 200 
varas (about 185 yards) of the shore line, as he wished 
to hold the land for government purposes. Figueioa 
died before anything was done, and matters became 
mixed up. In 1835 Captain W. A. Richardson was 
appointed first harbormaster of San Francisco, or 
Yerba Buena at tnat time. The house was really a 
:ent, made of a ship's foresail stretched upon four 



186 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

upright posts. Ships from various parts of the world 
had come frequently to the bay before the house was 
built. 

May, 1836, another citizen came to Yerba Buena to 
start a business in the little town. It Was Jacob Primer 
Leese, and he decided that a location near the cove 
was the best to be had. The order of General Fig- 
ueroa stood in his way, so he was obliged to go to 
Monterey and have Governor Don Mariano Chico 
direct that he be given his choice of locations. Leese 
took lumber back to Yerba Buena with him, and 
erected the second house in San Francisco near the 
corner of Clay and Dupont streets. The house was 
finished on the morning of July 4th. It was the first 
glorious Fourth in San Francisco, and Mr. Leese and 
Captain Richardson prepared for a grand celebration 
and housewarming. Several ships in the harbor loaned 
all their colored bunting, and with an American and 
Mexican flag, its decorations were very gay. Captain 
Richardson had invited everybody for miles around, 
an orchestra had been procured and some small cannon 
were borrowed from the presidio. Guests began to 
assemble in the afternoon, and sixty were soon in 
attendance. Many Sonoma people and all grandees 
of the Mexican and Mission governments who could 
get there came. Small tents were erected to provide 
comfort. Dinner was served at 5 o'clock, and then 
patriotic toasts were indulged in by everybody. After 
dinner a dance was held, and the fun was kept up at 
great length. Mr. Leese says : " Our Fourth ended on 
the evening of the 5th. " 

In a few days Leese landed his large stock of goods, 
and his guests were heavy purchasers. Leese married 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 187 

a sister ot General Vallejo very soon, and on April 15, 
1838, Rosalie Leese, the first child born in San Francisco, 
blessed the union. That year Leese put two more 
buildings up ; and the little town began to get started. 
In 1839 the village was surveyed. The limits were 
from Pacific street to Sacramento street one way, and 
from Dupont to Montgomery the other. 

Up to 1844 Yerba Buena was a mere village of a 
dozen houses, and about fifty permanent residents. Up 
to 1811 its history is simply a record of the transac- 
tions of the Hudson Bay Fur Company. This com- 
pany disposed of its interests in 1846 and moved away. 
By that year, in the summer, there were about two 
hundred people in the town and perhaps fifty houses 
had been erected. The growth of the place was very 
rapid after that period. By April of next year seventy- 
nine houses clustered about the cove. In five months 
of that year seventy-eight new edifices went up. Many 
of the houses were adobe, but some were mere 
shanties. The population had increased to five 
hundred. 

At this time the alcalde of the place, Washington 
A. Bartlett, decided that the name Yerba Buena was 
hardly befitting for so pretentious a village, and he 
therefore styled the tovvn San Francisco, and had an 
ordinance printed so fixing it. A newspaper published 
in the town, called the California Star, San Francisco's 
first journalistic venture, published a list of the 
inhabitants, in 1847. There were representatives from 
the United States, California, Mexico, Canada, Chile, 
England, France, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Switz- 
erland, Denmark, Malta, New Holland, New Zealand, 
Peru, Poland, Russia, Sweden, the West Indies and 



188 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

the Ha^^aiian islands. Many of the foreigners were 
latterly from different parts of the United States. 

The ffold rush of 1848 soon brought a laro^e and 
excited population to San Francisco. Lots had been 
sold in the town the year before, when the first water- 
front properties were disposed of. In the town 
fifty vara lots were sold for 812 apiece. In the spring- 
of 1848 the first intelligence of gold discoveries reached 
San Francisco. Later a few miners came in and gold 
specimens arrived. People began to leave, singly and 
in crowds. Labor rose rapidly in value, business 
places were deserted, sailors left their ships, and 
everybody went wild. In the month of May one 
hundred and fifty people left San Francisco, and 
numbers departed daily. They all left everything 
behind in their hurry, and lost much of their 
property. By June the two papers that were being 
published in San Francisco were suspended because 
everyone connected with them — proprietors, editors 
and printers — had skipped out to the mines. Some 
of the many times millionaires of San Francisco 
then made their vast fortunes sure by becoming pos- 
sessed of all the real estate thev could carr}'. 

In August, 1848, news was received of the end of 
the war with Mexico, and a grand celebration was 
held. Property began to be of great value, and lots 
jumped to big figures. While numbers of people went 
off to the mines hundreds of newcomers arrived. All 
who wished could get work, and wages ranged from 
$10 to $30 a day. The State's whole population began 
to flock to San Francisco for supplies, and everything 
was needed. There were no accommodations for 
them, so that houses had to be hastilv constructed. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 189 

Lots went up to higher prices, buildings were started 
every day, and tents dotted the hillsides all over San 
Francisco's present site; everybody made money and 
was growing rich. Gambling saloons started every- 
where — the whole country was afire with excitement. 
Thousands kept pouring in, the mines increased in 
wealth, and their gold came to San Francisco for 
more supplies. By the beginning of 1849 there were 
2,000 people in San Francisco. 

From this time on the history of San Francisco grew 
so fast that the transactions of any year would have 
furnished material for a large history. The sand 
dunes and sage brush disappeared rapidly. Grand 
improvements rushed on apace. There is no counter- 
part of the rapid growth of San Francisco except in 
marvelous Chicago, which began its forward move- 
ment almost to a day with the first receipt of gold 
from California. 

Business ventures were conducted on a grand scale, 
and movements for the moral and intellectual better- 
ment of citizens were equally pronounced. Schools 
and churches were established, and in several instances 
the houses of worship were constructed in the East, 
and sent around Cape Horn in the holds of sailing ves- 
sels. The business man had to have his morning paper 
with his breakfast, and the churchman perused with 
avidity the news supplied by his church organ. San 
Francisco had shaken off the censurable debris of min- 
ing communities, and adopted the healthy charms of 
cultured centers of Christian civilization. 

As vast numbers of energetic men had come to San 
Francisco from south of the Ohio river, it is not sur- 
prising that their sympathies were with the people of 



190 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

the seceding States after the fall of Sumter, nor that 
they hoped and believed that California might be 
added to the Southern Confederacy, of whose success- 
ful establishment very many of them never entertained 
a doubt. Their strength in numbers was so considerable 
that the loyal majority entertained grave misgivings 
as to the result should the conflict of arms be precipi- 
tated upon California. When the war was well under 
way, Governor John G. Downey, promoted to the 
position by the election of Governor Milton G. Latham 
to the United States Senate, had been elected lieuten- 
ant governor by Democratic votes, but was patriot- 
ically loyal to the Constitution of the United States. 
He authorized the enlistment of six regiments to be 
mustered into the service of the United States, and 
which number completely filled the quota of California 
under the calls of the President of the United States 
up to this time. These men relieved the regular sol- 
diers still on duty on the Pacific coast and were as- 
signed to active duty wherever soldiers were in demand 
in California, Arizona and New Mexico. The action 
of Governor Downey gave joy and encouragement to 
the loyal men of San Francisco, who hastened to enroll 
in the California contingent. 

But there were a great number of the patriotic 
young men of San Francisco who were determined to 
participate in the stirring events transpiring in Vir- 
ginia. As the Government seemed unlikely to order 
any of the forces organized in California to the Atlan- 
tic States, the historical California Hundred was 
formed. Captain J. Sewell Reed, a native of Massa- 
chusetts, conceived the idea of this immortal band, 
which was selected from several hundred youn^ men 



CALIFORr<fIA GOLD BOOK. 191 

who offered, and who were not only expert horsemen, 
and accustomed to the use of fire-arms, but were all 
able to bear their own expenses to the seat of active 
hostilities. They were mustered into the United States' 
service by Colonel Ringgold, of the regular army. 
They represented by birth nearly every Northern State. 
When organized they were reviewed by the mayor of 
San Francisco, attended by the principal business men 
and citizens, and went to Starr King's Church in a 
body, where he consecrated them to the service of the 
country in as eloquent an address as he ever delivered. 

As evidence of the earnest loyalty of all classes at 
that time, and their anxiety to be identified with the 
glorious cause of the Union, one incident is mentioned. 
Places where a company could practice, drill and 
become accustomed to military discipline were not as 
common then as now in San Francisco. There were 
no National Guard Barracks. David Fitzgibbon, a 
native of Ireland, long resident in San Francisco, was 
the lessee at a high rental of " Assembly Hall," located 
at the corner of Post and Kearney, where the " White 
House" emporium now is. His place was exactly 
adapted to the requirements of the men, the lower floor 
for a drill room, and the upper floors for sleeping- 
quarters. He hunted up Captain Reed, and tendered 
its free use to his company. It was gladly accepted, 
and became the home of this gallant band until its 
departure by steamer for New York, and there their 
friends gave them their parting blessings. 

Four more full companies organized immediately, 
and followed under command of Major C. Crownin- 
shield. The California Hundred were first assigned 
to duty as Company A, Second Massachusetts Cavalry. 



192 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Captain Reed was killed while at the head of his com- 
mand in a charge at Drainesville, Virginia, February 22, 
1864, and how these live hundred Californians shared in 
the severest campaigns in Virginia is evidenced b}^ the 
fact that only one hundred and eighty-three weremus 
tered out at the close of the war, and a great number 
of these held rank as commissioned officers. Very 
many of them are among the most successful business 
men in San Francisco to-day, and all are specially 
honored. Col. C. Mason Kinne, the assistant secretary 
of the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Com- 
pany, the pioneer company in San Francisco, was one 
of the members of the California Hundred. 

When San Francisco began to put on the airs 
becoming a metropolis, there were several reasons why 
abodes and business houses displayed no great archi- 
tectural beauty, nor any special magnificence in pro- 
portions. Lumber was $600 a thousand feet. There 
were evidences that earthquakes in the past had shaken 
adobe structures to pieces, and it was doubtful whether 
tall buildings, however massive their walls, could with- 
stand the shock of even such tremblors as were not 
unusual in mining days. It required some courage to 
be first in constructing a tall house. One of the first 
great houses constructed in the business part of the city 
was the Halleck block, on Montgomery street, con- 
structed for General 11. W. Halleck, then a resident in 
San Francisco. That was followed by the Nevada 
Bank block, the Palace and Baldwin hotels, the Phelan 
block, and some others of good dimensions. No harm 
came to any of them, and then M. H. de Young was 
inspired to erect a "sky-scraper" as an imposing home 
for the San Francisco Chronicle^ and very many timid 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 193 

people pronounced it a risk}' thing to do, but those 
occupying the ninth and tenth stories seem to have no 
more nervous dread of a disaster from a quake than if 
they were domiciled in a one-story block of granite. The 
Crocker family and D, O. Mills, and the Mutual 
Life Insurance Company, of New York, and the Pacific 
Mutual Insurance Company, of San Francisco, have all 
since put up great piles which would be deemed spa- 
cious as well as ornamental in any city in the world. 
The wisdom of Mr. de Young has been endorsed by as 
careful business men as there are in the State, and his 
example followed to the extent of the expenditure of 
millions of dollars which would be utterly lost were 
their magnificent buildings wrecked by earthquake 
shock or otherwise. San Francisco has become the 
home of architectural ornaments, not alone in the 
business part of the city, but in all the residence districts. 
San Francisco is better provided with internal rail- 
road facilities than any city in this country, and prob- 
ably in the world. Its numerous points of high alti- 
tude made the use of steam or horses for drawing cars 
impracticable. A resident solved the problem by the 
invention of the cable car, and the first one used in 
the United States was on the old Clay street line in 
San Francisco, and few improvements have been made 
in the original affair. Cable car lines were multiplied, 
until with the horse cars nearly every block in the 
city could be reached by one or the other of these con- 
veyances. Xow the more rapid electric car is taking 
the place of the others on some lines. By a system of 
transfers, not usual in other cities, one may go from 
one point to another, almost anywhere in the city, for 
one fare. 



194 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

San Francisco has nearly always been remarkable 
for the extent and excellence of its manufacturing- 
enterprises. It was so far from the established manu- 
facturing centers when its history began that man's 
ingenuity and skill were taxed to their utmost extent 
to supply articles absolutely necessary in life's daily 
routine. Everything almost that was needed must be 
constructed here, and first came the manufacture of 
tools. In very many directions the skilled mechanics 
of the coast have no superiors anywhere. The Pacific 
Saw Manufacturing Company, of which Hon. K. AV. 
Spaulding is at the head, has established a reputation 
for turning out reliable goods, both of all classes of 
saws and every kind, of cutting tools not attained by 
any other manufactory of its kind in the United States. 
The Union Iron Works may be mentioned because of 
the remarkably fine work performed in shipbuilding. 
The United States war ships San Francisco and 
Charleston and the harbor defence Monitor Monterey 
will be monuments to the skill and ability of Irwin M. 
Scott, and the grand capacity of the Union Iron Works, 
as long as they remain afloat, and for years afterward.' 
It would require pages to give even a brief mention of 
the manufactories in operation in San Francisco. These 
grand producers of wealth turned out of their work- 
shops during 1892 articles to the value of over ninety- 
four millions of dollars — more than the value of all the 
merchandise which passed through the San Francisco 
custom house, both outgoing and incoming. 

San Francisco has ninety-one school-houses of all 
grades, attended by 46,172 pupils, and expended in 
their support in 1892 $1,098,838. The fine cUmate of 
the city enables students to devote more time to study 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 195 

without wearmess than in climates which vary from 
hot to cold. The standard of scholarship in all grades 
is high in consequence, and the benefits conferred are 
ill excess of those obtainable in the same time else- 
where. These figures are exclusive of the large attend- 
ance upon the great number of excellent and high 
grade private schools. 

No community in the world has produced so many 
persons of wealth who took pleasure in devoting a 
goodly share of what they possessed to benefiting the 
people. There are now thirty-five kindergarten schools 
maintained in San Francisco, with an attendance of 
3,108. The growth of the admirable system has been 
more marked here than in any other city in the country, 
owing to the personal interest and generosity of citizens. 
Eighteen of the thirty-five kindergartens are perma- 
nently endowed ; fifteen of them are memorial kinder- 
gartens. The first kindergartens of the kind in the 
world were the Leland Stanford Jr. memorial kinder- 
gartens, the first one of which was organized July 7, 
1884. Since that time, and growing out of that seed 
germ, there have been scores of them planted all over 
the world. With a pledge of only $7.50 per month, 
the work began, in the heart of the Barbary coast, 
thirteen years ago, under the auspices of Mrs. Cooper's 
bible class. At the close of the first year there were 
two kindergartens, with 109 children, and total receipts 
of $1,805.70. Last year the total receipts were $43,- 
731.90. During the thirteen years over 13,000 children 
have been trained. The late Senator Sharon gave 
fifty thousand dollars to found a playground in Golden 
Gate Park for the pleasure of the children of San 
Francisco. No point in this charming resort is patron- 



196 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

ized to the same extent as this — not even the music 
stand where two days in the week the best performers 
dispense music for the million. The Park has number- 
less attractions bestowed by generous citizens, some of 
whom are with the dead, and all for the gratification 
and refinement of the public taste. James Lick created 
an institution which adds to the achievements of astron- 
omy, and has already advanced the grand column of 
heavenly discoveries. Besides, he endowed the Academy 
of Sciences, and established a people's free bath house. 
Others have been equally generous, and the end is not 
yet. Royally have the citizens of San Francisco been 
endowed with wealth, and royally have they dispensed 
it for the improvement of humanity. 

The gifts named have been for the intellectual grati- 
fication of the masses. The generous have not 
manifested less care for the comfort and welfare of 
those in want, or poorly provided for. The Salvation 
Army has been made the almoner of hundreds of busi- 
ness men and society women, who are proud to give, 
but lack the time to hunt up those requiring aid. 
Through this generosity a place is provided where 
supper, a bath, lodging and breakfast, are furnished for 
ten cents. A great number of persons buy tickets by 
the hundreds or the thousands and instead of giving 
money to those asking alms, they give a ticket guarantee- 
ing the holder the meals, the bath and the bed. 
Mr. Brown, desirous of doing something to benefit 
working girls, has established a place on Howard street 
where they can obtain a cup of tea or coffee, and any 
single dish of good palatable well cooked food for one 
cent. Of course this does not pay first cost, but the 
girls get a healthy lunch, retain their self-respect, and 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 197 

save pennies of which they have none too many. 
During January, 1893, an average of 140 girls per day 
were accommodated, and the deficiency which Mr. 
Brown had to make up out of his pocket was in the 
vicinity of $100 per month. More good could not 
possibly be accomplished for the same amount of money. 

Facts similar to these might be recounted for hours. 
Only these will be given, and they are among the most 
unimportant. They indicate the tendency of the people 
to sympathize with and help one another. Very few 
of these acts of kindness are made public. No one 
suffers whose wants are generally known. The climate 
is not more genial and beneficent than the great hearts 
of San Francisco's people. They enjoy largely, and 
enjoy most when others are having a full share. 

The necessity for improvements and additions to the 
harbor facilities of San Francisco has long been rec- 
ognized by the business community and the harbor 
commissioners. The dock charges were not sufficient 
to warrant any material change. The harbor is a 
State institution, and the legislature, at its last session, 
upon the recommendation of the harbor commissioners, 
submitted an act, to be voted upon by all those entitled 
to the franchise, authorizing the commissioners to issue 
bonds, to the extent of $500,000, par value, the money 
received from their sale to be used in improving the 
docks, and erecting such buildings as were found to be 
necessary. The authorization was endorsed, and plans 
and specifications have been accepted for a grand union 
depot into which all the street railroads, cable and 
horse, will deliver passengers for the ferries, and gather 
all who may arrive for the various points in the city. 
It will prove a great convenience, compared with the 



198 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

arrangements now in vogue. Other needed improve- 
ments are being consummated, and before the end of 
] 893 the landing at San Francisco will be one of the most 
sightly and convenient in the United States, and will 
relieve the business community of much unnecessary 
trouble. 



AN JOAQUIN COUNTY is one of the original 
subdivisions of the State, and the local seat of 
government was established at Stockton, where it has 
remained. The name of the county originated with 
the Spanish lieutenant, Moraga, who christened the 
little river of that name in honor of Joachim, the tra- 
ditional father of the Virgin Mary. From that it 
passed to the great valley, and thence to the county 
formed from its upper end. The county is composed 
almost completely of level plain, what hills it contains 
occupying the southern end of it. 

Jedediah S. Smith and other trappers were in the 
valley as early as 1825, but Father Crespi, of the Mon- 
terey Mission, had been there in 1773. Then the San 
Joaquin valley was full of deer, elk, wild horses, bear 
and fowls. As high as fifteen grizzlies have been seen 
there at one time. The rivers were full of fish, and 
many beavers, which the trappers were searching for, 
inhabited the banks of every stream. The trapping 
companies that came to the great valley in 183i;' found 
the most populous villages of Indians that they had 
ever beheld. The banks of the rivers were fairly brist- 
ling with villages containing from 50 to 100 wickiups, 
built of poles and thatched with rushes. The Indians 
lived sumptuously upon game, fish, wild seeds and ber- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 199 

ries, while their huts were red with the salmon that 
they were curing. 

Late in the summer of the next year, 1833, those vil- 
lages were utterly depopulated. Here and there a half 
dozen Indians were left, but at every village the skulls 
and remains were numbered by hundreds. Evidences of 
wholesale burials and immense funerals pyres were 
seen everywhere. Only one camp had any considerable 
number left, and in one night twenty of these died. 
They were stricken with smallpox, which was a disease 
unknown to them before, and for which their medicine 
men possessed no specific. Every tribe of Indians in 
California had at that time its " sweathouse " at each 
village. These houses were pits in the ground, covered 
with a conical roof in which a small aperture was left 
for the escape of smoke. A small entrance admitted 
the Indians, and it was tightly closed after them. In 
these dens a fire would be built upon the floor, the 
passage being closed the Indians danced furiously until 
in a reeking perspiration, and then they would dash to 
a stream of water near by and plunge in. This heroic 
treatment of the fever patients doubtless killed every 
one who tried it. 

Unlike other American Indians, these never used 
trees or bark with which to build their canoes. Instead 
they used tule reed strongly lashed with strips of wil- 
low These boats were serviceable and very buoyant. 
These Indians for many years after the whites came in 
believed that the Great Spirit was still on their side. 
One tradition was that upon the coming of the pale face 
the summer showers, which had been regular and fre- 
quent, were stopped by the Great Spirit, so that the 
sterility of the land would drive the white man away, 



200 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

after which the rains would fall again. They never 
figured much on artesian wells and irrigation canals. 

The first immigrant party that came through the 
San Joaquin valley was Caj3tain J. B. Bartelson's com- 
pany of about thirty men. They came across the plains, 
and after arriving in the San Joaquin valley separated 
and spread out over the State. A Captain Weber 
formed a partnership with Guillermo Gulnac in 1842, 
and started various industries. Because of the latter's 
Mexican name Weber applied for a land grant through 
him of eleven square leagues of land in the vicinit}- of 
French Camp, in what is now San Joaquin county. 
Soon after the partnership Avas dissolved, and Weber 
became the owner of the land. Weber visited Sutter's 
Fort and hunted up an Indian chief, Jose Jesus, with 
whom he formed a Listing friendship and peace. Jose 
advised Weber to start his settlement at the place which 
is now Stockton, and in accordance he located upon 
the site. Jose agreed not only to a peace, but to help 
fio-ht any Mexicans or Indians who should give trouble. 
As Jose was the terror of the Mexicans this alliance 
did much to assure success to the young tow^n. The 
settlement was commenced about 1843, The location 
was particularly advantageous, as the hunters and trap, 
pers made French Camp their winter quarters, and 
they exchanged ammunition and blankets for furs. 
The application for land that Gulnac had filed was 
allowed in January, 1S44. Captain Fremont passed 
through there in March of that year. In 1847 Weber, 
who had given his attention to his business in San Jose, 
decided that his settlement at Stockton's site was pro- 
gressing too slowly. He sold out at San Jose and 
moved with a number of men, 200 horses and 4,000 



CAUFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 301 

head of cattle, to the new settlement. The httle town 
thus finally started was called Tnleburg. The name 
was chano^d lo Stockton m 1543 by Captain Weber 
to honor Commodore fioberi Stockton of the United 
States navy. 

Earlv in ISIS news of the discovery of gold at 
Coloma came to the settlers on the San Joaqnin. The 
fever struck every man in the connty. and Captain 
Weber organized a company and started a search at 
once in his own part of the State. He found gold 
before long on the Mokelumne river, and soon the 
region known as the Sonthem mines was flooded with 
men. We'oer left workers on the creek named for 
him, and tao^ht a lot of Indians how to prospect. 
These he sent inuj Calaveras, and they faithfully hunted 
out the precious metal and sent in splendid specimens 
and glowing reports. A lai^ P^'^ ^^^ equipped at 
Tnleburg and started for the new ■• diggings.** The 
importance of the new mines grew with astonishing 
rapidity. Weber decided that a town was a necessity. 
He went back to Tuleburg and founded Stockton at 
once. He then bought a small sloop called the Maria 
for $1,000, and established the first regular packet line 
between San Francisco and Stockton. The town grew 
like a mushroom. Hotels went up rapidly in 1 54y. 

Of recent years the notion that San Joaquin was fit 
only for a grazing county has been exploded. The 
county is rich now in agricaltaral productions. The 
lands which were too dry have been abundantly irri- 
sated from the sreat rivers and from some of the finest 
artesian wells in the State. Hundreds of thousands of 
acres formerly relegated to the tules have been re- 
daimed, and have proved to be rich and productive. 



202 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

The Stockton which started as a temporary camp so 
Ion"- aofo is one of the most Ilourishine- cities in the 
State. The whole county is prosperous and pro- 
gressive, and the people are happy and contented. 

No interior county in the State shows greater mate- 
rial progress for the year 1892 than San Joaquin. The 
building of the Tracy branch of the Southern Pacific 
Kailroad has opened up a part of this county hitherto 
almost inaccessible during the rainy season. The 
opening of that line has had the effect that new rail- 
roads usually have of brightening up towns that had 
been slumbering for years. Tracy shows many signs of 
new and vigorous life. Its population has increased by 
half, its business has been doubled, and the village is 
dotted witii new buildings. 

Stockton now has a sewer system second to none, 
and it has been almost completed during the year. 
The main sewer and dumping station cost $35,000. 
The outlet pipe has been extended three miles to the 
San Joaquin river, and during the summer the sewer- 
age is to be used in the irrigation of the Moss tract, 
which belongs to Sacramento Boggs of Colusa county. 
The pumps in the new station will handle the sewerage 
of a city of 100,000 inhabitants and have a capacity of 
pumping fourteen million gallons per day. Eighteen 
miles of lateral sewers have been laid at a cost of $M,- 
000. The city has a separate system of rainwater 
sewers under construction, and during the year five 
miles of this sewer was laid at an approximate cost of 
$5,000. 



"Ml ONO COUNTY was organizedin 1861, and is a 
^S^^ long, narrow belt of territory on the eastern 



CALIFORNIA CO ID BOOK. 203 

slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Bridgeport is its 
county -seat. It was tliougiat to contain rich deposits of 
silver, and gold placers of no great extent were worked 
for a time by the miners from Truckee and Virginia City. 
The Bodie excitement created towns and cities, but on 
its subsidence these were depopulated. However, lit- 
tle is now really known of the mineral resources of 
Mono county. Scarcely any of it is fit for agriculture, 
and it ought to have some appropriate place in the 
economy of nature, and when thoroughly explored 
may develop bonanzas. Traces of zinc, copper, iron, 
jasper, chalcedony, and other metals and stones have 
been found, and the county contains a great deal of 
valuable timber. 

Mono lake is situated in the center of the county, 
and is about fifteen miles long by ten miles wide, its 
waters being a somewhat unusual compound, various 
chemical substances being found in solution in them. 
The great bluffs and rocky ravines of the Sierra come 
almost to the western shore of the lake, while upon the 
eastern side salt deposits and lines of driftwood mark 
the plain, showing very distinctly what were the for- 
mer more extensive shores of this sheet of water. 
Upon the bluffs of the western side are water-marks 
which make it seem very probable that the waters 
were once almost a thousand feet above their present 
elevation, spreadmg out over the plains to the east to 
form a great inland sea. The lake receives a number 
of small streams, but is without a perceptible outlet. 
In picturesque variety and grandeur the scenery in the 
mountainous region of this county surpasses many of 
the celebrated views in the Alps. 



204 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

^ ANT A CLARA COUNTY was one of the origi- 
^^^ nal subdivisions of the State, and contained more 
territory than now, as a portion was given to both Ala- 
meda and Contra Costa counties in fixing their boundar- 
ies. In January, ITTT, Father Thomas de la Pena 
founded the Mission of Santa Clara, having come from 
San Diego for that purpose, and to spread the faith 
among the Indians. The name was chosen b}^ Padre 
Thomas in honor of Saint Clara, child of the pious mother 
Hortalana, whose prayers were answered by a lumin- 
ous glow, in token of which the child was christened 
Clara, signifying the feminine of light. 

When the padres came to Santa Clara no other 
whites had ever seen the country. It was very beau- 
tiful then, as it still is. The natives were very numer- 
ous, and thousands Avere converted, forcibly as usual, 
in that same year, 1777. That was not the San Jose 
of to-day. The first site chosen was too near the river, 
which overflowed in the winter, to the extreme discom- 
fort of the few residents. Subsequently they moved, 
having obtained permission from Spain, and that site 
was in the midst of the " Garden City " that this gen- 
eration knows. 

There was little or no interruption .to the progress of 
the Santa Clara mission for many years. It was not 
long after it settled down to its cahn routine before 
the hills about were overrun with horses, cattle and 
sheep. Many small industries were also started, in 
which the natives performed the labor after having 
been instructed. In 1812 a severe earthquake cracked 
the main building badly. Another shock in 1822 
rendered it unsafe, and extensive repairs were neces- 
sary. Although Mexican independence had been 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 205 

established, and the regime of the missions had been 
much altered, so that in fact they were soon upon the 
brink of destruction, still in 1825 a new site was 
selected and a new church erected. The original 
building has long since gone to decay and ruin. The 
prosperity of the Santa Clara mission was hardly 
second to any in the State. In 1823, even after some 
reverses, the mission had 22 400 calves to brand as 
increase to the herd. By 1825 thei-e were over 74,200 
head of cattle on their ranges, 407 yoke of oxen, 
82,500 sheep, 1,890 horses broken to saddle, 4,230 
brood mares, 725 mules and 1,000 liogs. Truly a rich 
possession. At that time there was 1,800 Indians at 
the mission. They attended to all of the vast labor 
necessary to keep it in operation. 

The gold excitement which followed the declaration 
of peace left this country, like other non-mineral local- 
ities, deserted. However, in 1849 interest was revived 
in the neighborhood of San Jose. The constitutional 
convention which had convened at Monterey Septem- 
ber 1, 1849, named that city as the State capital. 
December 15, 1849, the first legislature met in that city. 
There was not adequate room in the town for the 
gathering, and the two branches of the legislature had 
to meet in different houses. All of the elected Sena- 
tors and Assemblymen did not appear, many remaining 
at the mines. The legislature had already convened 
when a bill was introduced to remove everything to 
Monterey. It was defeated. In April a splendid offer 
from General Vallejo, who wanted the capital at the 
town of Benicia, startled the San Jose people. A 
bitter rivalry broke out at once, and offers and counter 
offers were made as inducements. Members were 



20() CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

dissatisfied with San Jose, and in 1851 she lost the 
capital, which Benicia secured. In 1854 it looked as if 
San Jose would win again, as a supreme court decision 
gave her the capital. This decision was soon overruled, 
and Sacramento secured the prize for all time. 

Santa Clara county is adapted to the production of 
all the fruits of the semi-tropics. There is not a variety 
which cannot be found here in abundance, yielding rich 
returns to the growers. So productive is the soil, so 
congenial is the climate, that new orchard homes are 
constantly being established, and grain farming is fast 
becoming unknown. Of prunes alone during the year 
1892, there were produced in Santa Clara county 20,- 
000,000 pounds, of which over 17,000,000 pounds went 
directly to the Eastern markets, the remainder supply- 
ing the local and San Francisco demand. Of other 
dried fruits over 5,000,000 pounds were shipi)ed, while 
15,656,675 pounds of green fruits were sent to the East 
and over 20,000,000 pounds used by the canneries and 
for local consumption. There were shipped by the 
Southern Pacific railroad 73,875,925 pounds of green 
and dried fruits and other ranch products. For the 
fruit the highest prices known for years was obtained. 

One feature which distinguishes the year 1892 from 
others is that of the subdivision of large tracts of land 
into -small orchard homes of ten and twenty acres. 
While there is proportionately more land devoted to 
fruit growing in this section than in any other county 
of the State, there are yet some large ranches ; but the 
movement now under way bids fair to dispose of all of 
these. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 207 

TANISLAUS COUI^TY was formed from Tou- 

lurane county in April, 1S54, Its formation liad 
been contested by the Terry faction under tiie belief 
that it would, in some way, aid the political fortunes of 
Senator Broderick, afterwards killed by David S. 
Terry, Empire City was at first the seat of local gov- 
ernment, but later it passed to La Grange, a rival 
town. In 18G0 the legislature annexed to Stanislaus a 
large slice from San Joaquin county, including Knight's 
Landing, a rapidly growing town, which obtained the 
honor from La Grange. In 18Y0 the Southern Pacific 
Company commenced work on its line through the San 
Joaquin valley, which it called the Yisalia division. 
A new town was laid out on the road, the people of 
Paradise and Toulumne removing their houses bodily 
to the new place, which was called Modesto, and in 
1871 this thriving place won the prize after a spirited 
contest, and soon became the most prosperous and 
thriving town in the county.' 

One of the first settlements in the county was that 
of French Bar or La Grange, as it soon came to be 
called. Rich mines were discovered here which were 
first worked by Frenchmen, whence the name. Several 
thousand people settled here, and the young city was 
both livelj/ and prosperous. The years 1854 and 1855 
were seasons of great excitement over the discovery of 
rich placers along the river at this point. Many for- 
eigners settled here, and they were so strong that they 
for awhile successfully defied the law providing for the 
collection of a mining tax from foreigners. They were 
brought to their senses, however, by the authorities. 

In the spring of 1849 Captain Knight pitched his 
tent on the bank of the Stanislaus river, in the edge 



208 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

of the foothills, and established a ferry across that 
stream for the accommodation of the miners who were 
pouring into the mines. As Knight's Ferry the place 
became known, and it bears the name to the present 
time. Knight was a comrade of Fremont, and had 
accompanied him on his various exploring trips, finally 
settlincr here, where he remained until his death, which 
occurred in a few years. Captain John Dent succeeded 
Knight in the ownership of the Ferr}'- and the place 
was frequently known as Dentville. It was a sister of 
Captain Dent whom General Grant married, and that 
individual, while a captain in the regular army, once 
spent some time here, in the summer of 1854, while 
en route to the post in the northern part of the State 
to which he had been appointed. 

HilFs Ferry is another of the settlements of the 
early days which has survived the exigencies of the 
mining excitement and still remains as a center of 
considerable trade. This town was laid out on the 
Orestiraba ranch, one of the five Spanish grants in 
Stanislaus county, and was for a long time the head 
of navigation on the San Joaquin river, though light 
draft vessels have gone considerably farther up the 
stream in times of high water. 

Three branches of the Southern Pacific Railroad 
traverse the county, assuring the adequate transpor- 
tation facilities that will be demanded when in the 
course of a few years the diversified products of a soil 
enriched by irrigation shall find their way in great 
volume to the markets of the world. Stanislaus is 
destined to loose her fame, as the banner wheat-pro- 
ducing county of the State, to attain in due time a 
new and greater fame as the richest, acre for acre, of 
the agricultural and horticultural counties. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 209 

Newman, on the west -side branch of the Southern 
Pacific Railroad, is another prospering town. During 
last year a sixteen-thousand-dollar hotel has been 
erected there, and the Odd Fellows recently dedicated 
an eight-thousand-dollar structure. Other buildings 
aggregating a cost of $10,000 have been built in New- 
man during the year. 

Oakdale, on the branch railroad between Stockton 
and Merced, ranks second to Modesto in importance 
It is a beautiful lively town, in the center of a large 
district, destined to be famous for horticultural and 
agricultural productions. Public improvements aggre- 
gating many thousand dollars have been made during 
1892, and the Oakdale canal and irrigation system has 
virtually been completed, promising new life and pros- 
perity for the new and succeeding years. 

The completion of the west-side branch of the 
Southern Pacific railroad has given existence to half a 
dozen new settlements along the line, and on the east 
side two new settlements have sprung up. The towns 
of Grayson, Knight's Ferry, La Grange, Crow's Land- 
ing, Turlock, Montpelier, Ceres, Waterford, the settle- 
ments of Westport, Horr's ranch, Hickman, Westley 
and others, have made progress during the year, and 
none have lost ground. 



W 



g^OULQMNE COUNTY was organized by the first 
legislature, and Stewart, formerly Sonorian 
camp, was designated as the seat of government. Her 
earliest story began with the first mining settlement, 
as prior to that her only visitors were the few hunters 
and trappers who happened across her territory before 



210 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

any Americans thought of making their homes on the 
Pacific coast. The Woods party, who came in the 
early summer of 1848, were Toulumne's first permanent 
occupants. They settled on the banks of a stream and 
named it Woods creek. These first comers discovered 
gold in paying quantities and decided to stay. Very 
soon afterward a party of Mexicans came to Tou- 
lumne and located the Sonorian camp, afterward 
called Stewart and then Sonorian. Gold being found 
everywhere and in large nuggets, a population, mixed 
and rough, poured in. Toulumne became suddenly 
the headquarters of the famous southern mines. 
Immigration became so rapid that there were soon 
more mining camps in this section than could be found 
in a like area anywhere in California. The richness of 
the diggings was unprecedented. 

The towns that sprang up were generally named for 
their first settlers. Jamestown on Woods creek was 
named for Colonel James, who came from San 
Francisco in 1848. Jacksonville was thus named for 
Colonel Jackson, its first storekeeper. There was a 
town called Chinese Camp for its Mongolians. Yankee 
Hill was a nugget town settled by men from " way 
down East." Then there were Peppermint Gulch, 
Mountain Brow, Garotte, Big Oak Flat, Columbia, 
and a number of others with titles peculiar to mining 
nomenclature. Every camp was full of gold, and there 
was a preponderance of bad men and worse whisky. 
Toulumne was exceedingly rich, but the times were 
sadly out of joint in a moral sense. 

The bitterness of feeling entertained by the Mex- 
icans and Spanish for everything American, which had 
started with the war with Mexico, had not died out in 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 311 

1849. Peruvians, Chileans, and all nations speaking 
the same tongue, combined in many things against the 
Yankees. Murders were of frequent occurrence. 
Germans, Austrians, French and Australians, called 
"Sidney ducks," grew disaffected. Questions of 
expelling all foreigners were fully discussed. Finally 
in 1850 a " foreign miner's tax " was passed by the 
legislature, imposing an impost of $20 a month on all 
foreign miners. The most intense excitement followed 
the first attempt to collect the tax. Riots were immi- 
nent ever3Mvhere. The foreigners combined and their 
orators inflamed them with speeches. The American 
miners assembled their forces and armed themselves. 
A body of several hundred formidable-looking miners 
marched into Sonora and almost proclaimed martial 
law. These, with the sheriff and the tax collector, 
started through the camps. Mexicans, Spanish, Dutch, 
French, everybody fled before them. Homes were 
dismantled, mines abandoned and towns depopulated. 
Hundreds of the foreigners went away from the 
country entirely. Others spread out over the county 
and commenced careers of outlawry that kept peaceful 
people in constant terror. Many robberies and mur- 
ders were committed in revenge by these ostracised 
foreigners, and innocent people were frequently the 
victims. 

The conditions of law and society rapidly improved 
in Toulumne after 1851. The mines were still pouring 
out immense treasures and the class of men who worked 
them were still very rough, but the courts were begin- 
ning to be well established ; schools started everywhere, 
wise and energetic citizens came in, and a great variety 
of enterprises were inaugurated. 



212 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Toulumne's progress during the past year has been 
slow, but very substantial. There has been a general 
revival of interest in mining properties, which means 
prosperity and a general and direct benefit to the county 
and her people. Many mines are now being prospected 
and thoroughly examined by capitalists from abroad, 
with favorable outlook to speedy and more systematic 
working. The progress made in mining is necessarily 
slow, but still progressive, when the vast sums of money 
advanced in ascertaining and determining the character 
of mining properties are considered. As a notable 
instance of the progression in mining matters may be 
cited the Kawhide mine, situated seven miles west of 
Sonora, on the mother lode. On this mine during the 
past few months there has been erected a forty-stamp 
quartz mill, with all the necessary buildings for the 
proper handling of ores, causing the outlay of an enor- 
mous sum, which the character of the ore, and the 
excessive quantity fully justified. This mine being an 
approved success, greatly enhances tlie value of any 
adjoining claims, in which prominent men of San 
Francisco are interested, who are bound to realize 
handsomely on their properties by the progress and 
thorough development made on the Rawhide. Many 
mining properties abandoned because of mismanage- 
ment or lack of means to properly work them have 
been taken hold of by men of resources, and the spirit 
of progress is being exhibited to a degree not witnessed 
in these camps for many years. The situation of the 
raining interests the past year has been bright indeed ; 
capital, energy and push are turning the wheel of fortune 
liere, and a golden harvest is being garnered. 
The Columbia Marble Works, which have been for 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 213 

many years idle, were reopened last year, and the justly 
celebrated marble, some of which appears prominently 
in the construction of the Palace Hotel in San Fran- 
cisco, is being removed from the extensive quarry in 
large quantities and shipped to the larger cities of the 
United States. 

The people are interesting themselves to a greater 
extent than ever before in agricultural pursuits; Sonora 
now having a first-class flouring mill, which affords a 
market for the cereal produce, has given new life to the 
farming industry and more land than in any previous 
season is being brought under cultivation. That the 
people of this county are thriving, prospering and 
progressing is certainly an evident fact. The greatest 
sign of progress is improvement, and since last year the 
improvements are many and great, hence much 
progress. Many newly erected cottages throughout 
the county modestly speak of quiet prosperity. 



m 



^ARIPOSA is another of the original subdivisions 
of the State, and it comprised, when formed, 
almost an entire third of California. The name is the 
Spanish for butterfly, and was bestowed upon the section 
by the great number of these insects of variegated colors 
seen there by the early settlers. In 1853 San Bernardino 
county was segregated, followed in 1855 by Merced 
county. The first county seat was Agua Fria, now 
depopulated and its place taken by the thriving town 
of Mariposa. 

The region was first invaded by the miners in 1849, 
and one J. D. Savage established a trading-post there. 
General Fremont also settled there at an early date. 



214 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

and began quartz mining on the famous Mariposa 
grant. As long as the mines paid well Mariposa was 
prosperous, and thriving towns sprang up in various 
sections. Among these w^ere Hornitos, Bear Valley, 
Princeton, and a great number of others, of which 
only the names remain. 

The principal fame of Mariposa county since the 
decadence of the mines is derived from the presence 
within her boundaries of that great natural w^onder, 
the Yosemite Valley. This valley was first visited by 
white men in the spring of 1851, in pursuit of hostile 
Indians. In December, 1850, and January, 1851, the 
Indians went on the war path and murdered the 
whites wherever found. A small force of militia took 
the field against them and soon subdued all except a 
large party, which took refuge in the depths of the 
mountains in a valley said to be inaccessible by whites. 
But the volunteers followed them to their retreat, pen- 
etrated the Yosemite Valley and captured the hostiles. 
The members of the invading party were struck with 
the magnificent scenery of the valley and told of it on 
their return, but it was ten years or more before any- 
thing was done toward opening the valley or drawing 
public attention to it. 

Mariposa, although formerly thought to be princi- 
pally a mining county, has of late years shown a mer- 
itorious record as a fruit-producing region. The mild 
climate of the valleys and lower foot-hills renders it 
peculiarly adapted to the production of grapes, 
oranges, figs, peaches, apricots, prunes, olives and 
lemons, while the higher belts, with their mountainous 
soil and sharp frosts, produce apples and pears which 
command the highest prices paid in the city markets. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 915 

An experiment in raisin-growing, made by C. L. Mast, 
of Horseshoe Bend, proved to be an unqualified suc- 
cess. He packed a good yield of white Muscats and 
seedless Sultanas in 1892, which, for size and richness, 
are equal to those produced anywhere in California. 
Olive oil of a clear, beautiful quality has been manu- 
factured in small quantities here for three years. 
Olive culture was at first deemed an uncertain experi- 
ment in this county, but it was found that the trees 
produced berries at an early age in these sheltered 
valleys. Oranges grown here are of a deep yellow 
color ; sweet, juicy, and very fine-fibered. 

No important steps toward disposing of the magnifi- 
cent timber in this county have as yet been taken, but a 
railroad must soon pierce the valuable forests of sugar 
pine, cedar and yellow pine, which are not surpassed 
elsewhere in the State. A little work in the way of 
building dams for the storage of water has been under- 
taken in the last year, and unlimited benefit could be 
accomplished were more work in this line completed. 
The free wagon road from Mariposa to the Yosemite 
valley will undoubtedly be built during 1893. One 
or two other roads of importance will also be con- 
structed this year. 

Mining has received a little impetus during the past 
year. In the northwest portion of the county the 
Red Cloud and Southerland mines are working 
steadily and yielding handsome profits, while a number 
of smaller mines in the same neighborhood are pa}'- 
ing well. Near Mariposa city only one mine of any 
importance is being worked, although many prospect- 
ors are making wages in the hills and gulches. The 
Alabama, owned by the Ward Brothers, is a valuable 



216 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

mine, and the tunnel, in now about 1,000 feet, shows an 
abundance of good ore. Several fine veins of good 
marble have been discovered recently. Altogether the 
prospects of Mariposa appear really better and on a 
more substantial basis than for many years past. 



^. ANTA CEUZ COUNTY was organized in 1850, 
>^Q) and the county seat located at Santa Cruz. In 
1770 Father Juniperro Serra founded the mission of 
Monterey. Twenty-two years after that the mission of 
Santa Cruz was established by Fathers Salazarand Lopez. 
The missions at Santa Clara, San Francisco and Mon- 
terey, being the nearest, contributed help and provis- 
ions to the new church. The Carrael mission sent 
seven mules, and the San Francisco mission five pair 
of oxen. Other missions sent what seemed appropriate. 
There were a great many Indians about the country, 
and thousands of converts were made. The cattle 
mcreased very rapidly until large herds roamed in the 
mountains roundabout. The Santa Cruz mission was 
very prosperous until about 1830, and a few years later 
when all of the work that the Catholics had done was 
destroyed by the Government. The Indians who were 
forced into the mission, and to adopt a different religion 
and habits, were like all other California natives, inas- 
much as they resented the innovation upon their 
rights and liberties. In the year 1812 they lured 
Father Quintana out into the orchard one night and 
hanged him. They then returned the body to his bed, 
where it was soon found. The perpetrators were not 
discovered for many years and were not punished then. 
Santa Cruz has never had any mining excitement 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 217 

of her own. The first bituminous rock pavement in 
California was laid there, and from rock mined in her 
own quarries. The material was so good and abund- 
ant that it could be mined cheaply, and sold so low 
that that from other points had difficulty in competing 
with it. Large amounts have been used on San 
Francisco streer^s and side-walks and shipped to other 
points, even as far east as Denver. The supply seems 
to be unlimited. 

The Watson ville beet sugar factory paid out $400,000 
in 1892 for beets and wages, and the success of that 
enterprise is assured. The fruit interests of the county 
are prosperous, and more acres are being planted to 
fruits and vines. The leather, lime, wine and other 
industries are all successful. The State encampment 
of National Guards has heretofore been held at Santa 
Cruz, and this attracts great numbers of people. More 
are induced to visit the healthy city by the safe and 
pleasant surf bathing for which the place is noted. 
The little county is wealthy and promising. 



ERCED COUNTY was formed from a part 
of Mariposa in 1855. Like nearly all the 
original subdivisions of the State, and all of the coun- 
ties created since, the county seat question was not 
settled without contest. So many places in each sub- 
division look upon the county seat as little less desir- 
able than a rich gold mine. The county takes its name 
from its principal river. Lieutenant Moraga, with a 
troop of Spanish soldiers, had been traveling over the 
arid plains until the tongues of men and animals were 
swollen, the eyesight blurred and the blood fevered. 



218 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

They thought they had been doomed to death, when 
they came upon this little stream, which was hidden by 
the tules on its bank. It was hailed as a gift from a 
merciful God, and became Mercy or Merced river. The 
contest in Merced was settled by the selection of the 
town of Merced, where it is almost certain to remain* 

Merced has been the home of great grain fields. It 
is now blessed with about the best irrigating system in 
the country, and has started in on the money-making 
plan of dividing vip the large ranches, and inducing 
thrifty settlers to try their fortunes at fruit growing. 
Already the Crocker-Huflfman Land and Water Com- 
pany has three or four colonies well under way, and 
the grandest results are manifest. Merced being the 
nearest point to San Francisco where land with per- 
petual water rights is obtainable, the lands are being 
purchased for fruits. Figs, olives, oranges, lemons, 
apricots, peaches, pears, prunes, and indeed, all decidu- 
ous and citrus fruits grow here to perfection. When 
about ten times the profit can be obtained from an acre 
in fruit over an acre in wheat, it is not strange that 
the large ranches are being divided up. It is popula- 
tion in this country that produces the wealth, and the 
thrifty and industrious tiller of ten acres in fruit is as 
valuable to the community as the tiller of one hundred 
acres in grain. He is more so, because he is setting an 
example to those anxious for easy and comfortable 
lives. 



ONTEREY COUNTY was one of the first 
described by metes and bounds by the 
legislature in 1850, and the county seat established 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 319 

at Monterey, which had been the capital of Alta 
California, under the Mexican regime. The name is 
composed of two words, monto and rey, and lit- 
erally translated means " king of the forest." The 
harbor and county were so named in honor of 
Count Monterey, who fitted out three small vessels, 
and put them in charge of Don Sebastian Vizcaino in 
1599 with instructions to seize every point of interest 
and value on this coast in the name of Phillip III. of 
Spain. He visited various points, including San Diego, 
and on the 16th of December, 1602, sailed into the 
little harbor which he called Monterey, and cast 
anchor near the site of the present town. Yizcaino 
remained at Monterey until the 3d of the following 
January, when he sailed away. Then followed one 
hundred and sixty years of silence, during which 
time no record speaks of this region. 

In 1773 a great zeal for missionary work was man- 
ifested among the Mexican Padres, and an earnest 
desire to civilize and Christianize the inhabitants of the 
regions north. Exploring and missionary parties were 
immediately fitted out, one going by land, and the 
other by sea. They arrived at San Diego nearly at 
the same time, and the first mission of California was 
founded on the 16th of July, 1769. But their zeal 
was too great to allow them to wait at the southern- 
most border of the promised land, and they soon 
started for the north. They had read of the discovery 
and naming of the bay Monterey by Vizcaino, and 
the long lost bay was their objective point. The 
expedition left San Diego July 14, 1769, and was 
composed of about eighty soldiers, several officers, 
fifteen Christian Indians and Fathers Crespi and 



220 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Gomez, It was late in September when they reached 
the bay they were in search of, but they did not know 
it. The only excuse that can be offered for their not 
being able to recognize it from Yizcaino's description 
is that he wrote from the standpoint of one entering 
the harbor, while they were looking upon the bay 
from an inland point. The party moved northward 
and did not stop until they reached the Golden Gate 
itself. They walked along the shores of the bay and 
surveyed it from the top of the neighboring hills, and 
being taken with the spot, it was named after St. 
Francis de Assisi. They soon marched south again 
and repassed the bay of Monterey without knowing 
it to be the one they were in search of, and thinking 
that the harbor described by Vizcaino might be by 
this time filled with sand, they proceeded to San 
Diego, where they arrived on the 24th of January, 
1770. 

In the same year another search party was fitted 
out. It was in two divisions, one to go by water and 
the other by land. This time they were successful, 
both reaching and recognizing the bay about the same 
time. On the 3d of June, 1770, they again took 
possession of it in the name of the king of Spain. 
On the same day Father Junipero began his mission by 
erecting a cross, hangmg bells from a tree, and saying- 
mass under the same venerable rock where Vizcaino's 
party celebrated it in 1602, one hundred and sixty-eight 
years before. 

The missions were designed for the civilization and 
conversion of the Indians. The latter were instructed 
in the mysteries of religion (so far as they could 
comprehend them) and the arts of peace. The 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 321 

instruction of the savages in agriculture and manufact- 
ures, as well as prayers and elementary education, was 
the padre's business. The Indians were at first 
very shy of the newcomers, but after a time they 
began to cluster around the fathers and finally their 
old habits and manners of living were thrown ofi', 
and they contented themselves with the quiet life and 
somewhat laborious duties of the missions. It must 
be remembered that the civilization of the California 
Indian was no easy task. He had lived without 
labor and existed for naught save his ease and 
pleasure. His chief delight was the satisfj^ing of his 
appetite and the best portions of his life were spent 
in sleeping and dancing, while in the temperate 
California climate wild fruits and nuts, on which he 
lived, grew in great abundance. But the benefits of 
civilization gradually dawned upon the homeless sav- 
age, and he soon took to the new life with surprising 
whole-heartedness, and in a short time the mission of 
San Carlos de Monterey was in a flourishing con- 
dition. 

On July 14, 1771, the mission of San Antonio was 
established about twelve miles south of Soledad, in 
Monterey county. The buildings were closed in a 
square 1,200 feet on each side and walled with adobes. 
The stream on the banks of which the mission was 
located was conducted in paved trenches twenty miles 
for the purpose of irrigation, and large crops rewarded 
the husbandry of the Indians and the padres. In 1822, 
this mission owned 52,800 head of cattle, 1,800 tame 
horses, 3.000 mares, 500 yoke of working oxen, 600 
mules, 48,000 sheep and 1,000 swine. This mission on 
its secularization fell into the hands of an administrator 



222 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

who neglected its farms, drove off its cattle and left 
the Indians to starve. 

The mission of Soledad was founded October 9, 
1791, and was exceedingly prosperous. In 1794, the 
mission of San Juan Bautista sprung into existence 
and did a great deal toward benefiting the poor savage. 
After all the good these holy fathers did they were 
destined to be driven, with their flocks, out of the 
homes they had founded and cherished. In 1813, by 
an act of the Spanish Cortez, and again in 1828, the 
extinction of the missions was ordered In 1833, the 
Mexican Congress sanctioned the order, and in 1845 
the overthrow of the missions was complete. 

The mining interests have received undivided atten- 
tion during the past j^ear. Immense deposits of lime- 
stone have been opened on the California mountains. 
Gold and silver have been discovered in some of the 
canyons, and although gold is not found in paying 
quantities, a little research might develop results which 
would prove highly profitable. The Los Burros gold 
mines in the southwestern extremity of the county 
are rapidly coming into prominence, and alone will 
tend to prove that this county is not destitute of valu- 
able mineral deposits. In Cholame valley, in the 
southern part of the county, mines of asphaltum, cop- 
per and gypsum have been opened, and petroleum in 
large quantities, while abundant deposits of black oxide 
of manganese have been discovered. Coal mines have 
been opened in several portions of the county, the 
most important of these being that of the Carmelo 
Land and Coal Company, whose mines and works are 
located at Carmelo, five miles south of Monterey and 
two miles from deep water on Carmel bay. The com- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 323 

pany, which is corapose'd of San Francisco and local 
capitalists, have sunk two shafts of 800 and 500 feet 
depth respectively, built hoisting works with a capa- 
city of sixty tons per hour, with coal bunkers and 
chutes, and are shipping a grade of coal equal to "Well- 
ington. The company is now preparing to run a 1,000- 
foot tunnel to crosscut a ledge of exceptionally good 
bituminous coal. With the completion of this tunnel, 
the output of the mine will be greatly increased. De- 
posits of bituminous rock have been discovered, and 
preparations are being made to handle the product of 
the extensive beds of that article, now greatly in 
demand for street paving. 

An industry which gives promise of becoming far 
greater is that of shipping the pure white beach sand, 
which abounds in inexhaustible quantities near Monte- 
rey, to the glass factories of San Francisco. Carloads 
are shipped daily, and yet nature replenishes her stock 
quicker tiian the hand of man can diminish it. 

Glancing back upon the changes wrought in the past 
twelve mouths, one will readily perceive that Monterey 
county has undergone a most radical change. The 
cities, towns, and county at large show a greater 
amount of improvement the past year than that which 
has characterized the preceding decade. New towns 
have risen where heretofore was but a barren waste ; 
its cities have assumed metropolitan aspects, and what 
previously had been desolate mountain tracts, covered 
with well-nigh impenetrable timber and brush, are 
now cleared, and green fields and budding trees have 
taken the place of former desolation, while the tidy 
farm houses evince signs of prosperity and content- 
ment. 



224 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

^AN BENITO COUNTTwas not organized until 
•^^ 1874, when it was carved out of Monterey, with 
200,000 acres additional from Merced county some 
time later. It owes its existence to the policy of cut- 
ting up large grants or ranches, which acknowledged 
only one lord and master, and making out of them fit 
homes for hundreds of families. 

The soil of San Benito county claims the honor of 
having sustained the first American flag of conquest 
ever unfurled to a California breeze. The facts on 
which this claim is based are as follows : In March, 
1846, General Fremont arrived at San Juan, after a 
long: and tedious march from the Missouri river 
westward. He had received the consent of General 
Castro, the Mexican governor, to halt there 'and rest 
his weary troops. But General Castro, for some rea- 
son, suddenly revoked his permission and ordered Fre- 
mont to leave the territory at once. The answer was 
returned that the American army must have time to 
lay in a stock of provisions and make other prepara- 
tions, which would require some time, before leaving. 

Castro at once organized a small band of mounted 
troops and proceeded to San Juan to drive out tlie 
audacious " pathfinder." Fremont heard of Castro's 
intentions and withdrew his army from the valley, 
taking up a position on Gabilan, or Fremont's peak, as 
it is often and more appropriately called, which over- 
looks the towns of HoUister and San Juan. Here he 
threw up fortifications, and, planting a flag-staff, 
defiantly raised the American flag in the latter part of 
March, 1846. Castro and his command manoeuvred 
for some time at the foot of the mountain, but did not 
dare to attack Fremont's forces, which were safelv 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 225 

ensconced near the top of the peak. The Mexicans 
were armed with riatas and lances, and knowing that 
these weapons were inferior to those of the Americans, 
Castro finally concluded to withdraw his command. 

After Castro's withdrawal Fremont broke camp and 
marched through Bear and Panoche valleys toward the 
San Joaquin, intending to march to the Oregon line. 
On his way he received intelligence that a state of war 
had been declared between the United States and 
Mexico, and immediately returned and was soon taking 
an active part in the conquest of California. 

At that time the inhabitants belonged to the various 
Indian tribes, the hills vvere infested with grizzlies and 
the valleys were full of antelope and deer. The old 
mission of San Juan, which had been founded in 1797, 
was the only vanguard of the advancing civilization. 
The value of our fertile valleys and productive hills 
was then unknown, and a sleepy race in somnolent 
ease took without question what nature unaided fur- 
nished. 

San Benito now has a ])opulation of about 8.000. 
Although one of the youngest, it is one of the most 
prosperous counties in the State. The soil is marvel- 
lously fertile, while the excellence of the climate is 
proverbial. San Benito county is virtually a new and 
undeveloped country as compared with many of the 
other counties of the State, and offers splendid induce- 
ments to home seekers. 



T^pRESNO became a county by itself in 1856. It 
JiP^ ^'^^^ theretofore been a part of Mariposa county. 
The earlier explorers and settlers in Fresno and the 



226 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

San Joaquin valley began to arrive about 1844. David 
Kelsey settled in that year at French Camp with his 
wife and two children. He had a swivel gun that 
General Sutter had given hira, and he used to fire it 
every night at sunset to frighten off an}'- prowling 
Indians who might be near. Yw. April of 1844 Fremont 
visited Fresno's territory in his march of exploration. 
In 1851 Coarse Gold gulch, in what is now Fresno 
county, was a prominent camp. In October, 1851, 
Coarse Gold was almost deserted, owing to a war which 
the Indians threatened. In the spring of next year 
many returned and business prospered. Settlers 
flocked in at a lively rate in the next few succeeding 
years and many small towns were started. 

The final boundaries between Fresno and surround- 
inir counties were not settled until 1873. The eastern 
boundary now is the main range of the Sierra Nevada 
mountains. At that place the Sierras reach their 
greatest altitude, culminating in Mount AVhitney, the 
loftiest peak within the United States, not counting 
Alaska. On the west the boundary is in a spur of the 
coast range, in which mountains the famous New 
Idria quicksilver mine, one of the most valuable in 
the world, was discovered, in 1856. 

Mining commenced in Fresno very soon after the 
great gold rush of 1849. Placer mining was engaged in 
extensively in what were called the Southern mines ai 
an early date. Quartz mining for both gold and silver 
has brought in much money to miners all over Fresno. 
Coal and quicksilver also make valuable claims. I'resno 
counts considerably upon its natural wonders in several 
discoveries of fossil remains. Of the fossils, the remains 
of mammoths and whales are the most important. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 337 

Remains of one mammoth were unearthed by miners 
as early as 1858. There are several petrified trees of 
large proportions ; one of which seems to bear evidence 
of having been cut down with a sharp-edged tool 
before turning to stone. 

Irrigation has worked wonders for Fresno. Its 
average atmosphere was hot and dry, with occasional 
blistering winds in the summertime which were des- 
tructive to vegetation, and nearly so to life. These hot, 
dry seasons were exactly what was wanted for curing 
raisins most economically if the raisin grape could be 
produced, and a supply of water has solved that 
problem. The volume of water in Kings and San 
Joaquin rivers aggregated enough to thoroughly irri- 
gate every arable acre in Fresno county, and with 
canals and ditches its application to the lands where 
and when needed was found practicable. 

Then came the inauguration of the colony system. 
That was the wisest move made, and has added several 
thousand industrious and prosperous citizens to Fresno's 
population. There are still several hundred thousand 
acres to be subdivided, but the work will go on until 
the last large ranch has been swallowed up by numbers 
of small, well tilled vineyards and orchards. 



pNYO COUNTY was organized in 1865, with Inde- 
^ pendence as the county seat. It is a region of won- 
derful contrasts, of Arctic cold, and a heat that would 
paralyze almost anything that lives ; of valleys of 
great fertility, and a sink so sterile that it has gained 
the title of Death's valley ; of high mountains and a 
mysterious depression hundreds of feet below the level 
of the sea. 



228 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

There are mines of gold, silver and lead being worked 
in Inyo, but they are not yielding large amounts. No 
one can safely predict what exploration may dis- 
cover in the mountains surrounding Death's valley. 
There are three important industries which have been 
sufficiently developed to fix their immense value. The 
Inyo Development Company is manufacturing several 
thousand tons of soda annually by evaporating the 
water from Owen's lake. This is worth $33 per ton. 
The Saline Valley Borax Company produces fifty tons 
of borax monthly, worth $145 per ton. The supply is 
inexhaustible. The Inyo Marble Company is producing 
a marble which has no equal anywhere. A few samples 
would convince anyone with an eye to beauty in blend- 
ing of colors of the futility of any artist trying to rival 
the Great Master in delicate and chaste work. The 
quarries turn out pure white, and every color that was 
ever seen on canvas or in nature. Great slabs can be 
obtained without speck or flaw, and it is so strong that 
it can be sawed into sheets as thin as pasteboard, and 
vases turned from it no thicker than fine porcelain. 

Besides these mines of wealth w^hich are being intro- 
duced to the attention of people on the coast and in the 
east, there are half a million acres of land in Owen's 
valley equal to the best in the State for the production 
of every kind of semitropic fruit. Inyo is not to be 
despised. Water can be turned into her fertile valleys 
and then she will take her place among the most pros- 
perous communities in the State. 



^^rr^ULARE COUNTY was organized in 1854, from 

VJiij territory taken from Mariposa and the county 

seat established at Visalia. It is the sixth county in 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 239 

size in the State. Her great fertile valleys are among 
the largest in this State of great things, and her mount- 
ains, which include Mount Wiiitney, rank among the 
highest in America. Her wheat lields are great; her 
irrigation canals are great ; her herds of sheep and cattle 
are great ; her products of fruits and vines are great, 
her lumbering interests are great, and she is great in 
everything but evidences of poverty and want. 

The first settlement by the whites in the county is 
credited to Campbell, Pool & Co., who opened a ferry 
on King's river in the spring of 1852. Later in the 
same year N. Vice, a Texan bear-hunter, and one 
O'Neil, came to the present site of Yisalia and laid 
out the town, which was named for Vice. There were 
hardly any but Indian inhabitants in the valleys and 
hills when Vice and his jmrtnercame. They must 
have done some advertising, for in less than a month 
there were sixty white inhabitants in the young town. 
The immense advantages of the county were made 
known and population poured in. Prosperous ranches 
were started everywhere in the hills. Other towns 
grew in various localities almost as fast as Visalia. 
Tulare never furnished any mining excitement to the 
State. It was her wonderful fertility that made her 
populous, and subsequently made her the largest grain- 
producing county in California, the land of immensity. 
The county contains 6,406 square miles of surface, 
or about 4,099,440 acres. Of this at least 2,000,000 
acres are cultivable. There are about 20,000 acres of 
tule lands bordering upon Tulare lake. The balance 
of the land is mountainous. The foothill lands are of 
great value, as it is upon them that the citrus fruits 
thrive to the best advantage. The Sierra Nevada 



230 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

mountains in Tulare average 10.000 to 12,000 feet in 
height. Lofty peaks and tremendously deep gorges 
make the mountains extremely rugged. Whitney, 
which overtops the rest, is 15,056 feet high. Researches 
of later years have developed minerals in great variety 
in Tulare. Some gold deposits exist up in the 
Kaweah region, but the approaches are so nearly 
inaccessible that the deposits are of little value. Other 
metals and minerals also exist, chief among which are 
iron, lead, copper, antimony, coal and fine marble. 

The wonders accomplished in agriculture have con- 
tributed more than anything else to bring Tulare into 
prominence. The region north of Tulare lake probably 
shows the greatest development in large irrigation 
enterprises. A branch of Kaweah river, called Cross 
creek, furnishes a tremendous lot of water for this 
region, named Lucerne vale. Altogether there are 
seven canals in that portion, summing up 265 miles in 
length, and with an aggregate capacity of 1,300 cubic 
feet of water per second. Other irrigation districts, 
embracing thousands of acres, are established all over 
the county, and there is an abundance of water for 
them all. A large number of farms are irrigated by 
artesian wells. The first well was bored by the rail- 
road company in 1870, at Tipton. They struck a good 
flow at 310 feet, and used the water to irrigate forty 
acres of trees. Some of the later wells are capable of 
irrigating several hundred acres. A few years ago the 
D-rain of hundreds of thousands of acres required greater 
facility of manipulation. It was a Tulare farmer 
who first applied steam contrivances successfully to 
grain fields. By his method the ground is plowed, 
harrowed and seeded by steam. Machines are kept 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 231 

woing night and da}^ About ninety acres is a good 
day's work. In harvesting, a steam traction engine 
runs the combined harvester and thresher over the 
fields, reaping easily 100 acres in a day, and depositing 
the sacked grain in its path. The winterless climate 
of Tulare long ago marked it as being simply perfection 
for stock-raising. Cattle, horses, sheep and hogs mul- 
tiply rapidly there under the best conditions, and the 
herds are now very large. 

Year by year the doubters as to the benefits to be 
derived from the use of surface water on any crop that 
it will pay to plant, are becoming converted to the 
belief that irrigation is a greater discovery than gold. 
The little streams of water not only wet the soil, but 
they carry to the millions of rootlets exactly the 
elements they require to produce a vigorous growth 
and an abundant fruitage. Tulareans are observant, 
and a fact as prominent as this has become apparent on 
every character of soil, and for every kind of fruit, 
vine and cereal, has converted them to water users — 
confirmed irrigationists. This being the case, many 
hundreds of miles of new canals and distributing 
ditches were built during the year 1892, and tens of 
thousands of acres of land hitherto dry have been 
brought under irrigation. Among other ventures of 
the kind that of the Tulare irrigation district stands 
foremost. A new system of works, whereby 5<),00(> 
acres will be supplied with water, has been completed 
at a cost of $500,000, and it will result in more than 
doubling the ordinary product of those acres the 
coming year. Other enterprises of the kind are under 
way, notably at Tipton and on Lower Tule river. Alta 
district, in the northern portion of the county, has 



233 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

added largely to its already extensive area of irrigated 
land, and Kern and Tulare districts, at the southern 
extremity of the county, seem to be getting into 
shape to commence another large system of works at 
an early day. Many, and in fact most all private and 
corporate irrigation systems in the county, have also 
been enlarged and extended. 

Tulare presents a peculiar chapter to the wonders of 
the State, wherein may be read a story of past ages in 
her great Tulare lake. This name was given to the 
body of water by early explorers from the Catholic 
mission and the subsequent hunters and trappers. Tu- 
lare signifies tules, and the county and city of Tulare 
were both named for the lake. This lake was for- 
merly about thirty miles long, and covered one hundred 
square miles of surface. It has no outlet, the waters of 
the Tulare, King's and Kaweah rivers, with those of 
small streams, sinking and evaporating. In recent 
years much of this supply of water has been diverted 
for irrigation purposes. One canal alone, called the 
" 76," takes away a stream one hundred feet wide and 
four feet deep. Evaporation has done much to reduce 
the size of the lake, and recently a small forest of 
trees, broken off and strewn about, were discovered on 
the lake's bottom. None of these are uprooted, but 
stand as stumps and snags in the shallow water which 
has protected them from decay. The variety seems to 
be willow, grown sometimes two feet thick, and doubt- 
less of great age. The trees were probably about their 
present size when the water submerged them, as they 
would not live under a very considerable depth. Evi- 
dently Tulare Lake is not a body of water of very 
ancient origin. Fish have always been abundant in its 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 233 

waters, perch and catfish being most plentiful. The 
lake is now very much smaller tlian formerly, and as 
the rivers that feed it are being; turned into irriojation 
districts, it will be no long period before the rich body 
of land it covers will be in use for cultivation unless it 
is fed by a considerable number of springs at its 
bottom. 

Tulare county has room for ten times her present 
population, and gladly welcomes immigration. Prices 
for lands rule much lower here than in the older 
sections of the State, where results of culture are 
better known. 



AN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY is one of the 
twenty-seven sub-divisions of the State made 
prior to its admission into the Union. It derived its name 
from the mission founded one hundred and twenty 
years ago in honor of the memory of Saint Luis, the 
Bishop of Toulouse. The history of the county is inti- 
mately bound up with that of the various mission 
establishments in California. 

On June 3, 1770, was founded the mission and 
presidio of San Carlos Borromeo de Monterey. In 
accordance with previous orders Portola, as soon as a 
beginning was fairly made at Monterey, turned the 
government of the new establishments over to the 
padres, and sailed away in the San Antonio on the 9th 
of July. During the year 1770 little was done at 
Monterey owing to a lack of priests and soldiers. The 
eestablishment of the mission San Buenaventura had 
to be postponed on this account. In May, 1771, the 
San Antonio again anchored in the bay of Monterey, 



234 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

having on board ten priests with all the necessary 
appurtenances for the establishment of the five new 
missions proposed, namely : San Buenaventura, San 
Gabriel, San Luis Obispo, San Antonio, Santa Clara 
and San Francisco. Domingo Juncosa and Jose 
Cavalier were appointed to superintend the founding 
of the San Luis Obispo mission. The natives became 
hostile about this time and the work of the mission- 
aries was deterred for awhile. In the latter part of 
September re-enforcements arrived. In consequence 
of the recent outbreak six soldiers were added to the 
guard at San Gabriel, and the founding of a new 
mission was postponed.. The next year the San 
Antonio brought orders to explore the bay of San 
Francisco, and fortify and found a mission there. 
Accordingly, with Crespi, twelve soldiers, a muleteer 
and an Indian, Fages started for San Francisco. The 
party returned in April without doing anything of 
importance. 

During Fages' absence Serra had received messages 
detailing great destitution and sickness at San Diego. 
Relief was sent, but this so depleted his store that 
during May, June and July Fages kept the men at the 
presidio, and the people at the mission, alive on bear's 
meat. Fages and Serra decided to return to San 
Diego. The occasion seeming opportune, the president 
resolved on his way home to establish one of the new 
missions at Canada de los Osos. He therefore took 
with him Padre Caballer, the mission guard and the 
required vestments and utensils. A site called by the 
natives Tixlini was selected, half a league from the 
canyon, but within sight of it. On September 1, 1772, 
Junipero raised the Christian symbol, said mass, and 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 335 

thus ushered in the mission of San Luis Obispo de 
Tolosa. Caballer was left to labor alone at first, with 
five soldiers and two Indians to work on the building. 
The natives were well disposed, recalling past kind- 
ness, and were willing to be taught the new religion 
and mode of living. They were "ready to work, offered 
their children for baptism, and helped with their seeds 
to eke out the friars scanty food supply. The mission 
prospered and grew wealthy. Fine buildings were 
erected, some of which are in good state of preserva- 
tion to the present day, and a great number of converts 
were made. 

T wenty-five years after the founding of the San 
Luis Obispo mission, or in July, 1797, the site for 
another mission in this county was chosen at a place 
called Los Posas by the Spaniards, and Vania by the 
natives. Here Padres Laserem and Sitar founded an 
establishment which, in honor of the Archangel Mich- 
ael, was named San Miguel. This, too, grew rapidly, 
and there was soon a large number of Gentiles gath-, 
ered here for purposes of conversion. Padre Horra 
was placed in charge, but for some reason gave dis- 
satisfaction. Like the mission of San Luis Obispo the 
one at San Miguel went through the same history of 
prosperity and adversity, and when the American oc- 
cupation occurred but few traces of its former grandeur 
remained. Of the buildings covering many acres of 
ground, only one now remains, while the front porch 
of the church building is actually the private possession 
of an individual whose property line reaches to the 
wall of the structure itself. 

From the time of the admission of California down 
to about five years ago, the growth of San Luis Obispo 



236 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

was slow. It was isolated and difficult of access, and 
population did not increase with any great speed. But 
with the advent of the railroad in 1887, this was 
changed, and since then great strides have been taken, 
particularly in the eastern part of the county. The 
county is one of the finest in the State, and embraces 
over 2,000,000 acres of fertile territory. It is almost 
as large as the State of Connecticut. San Luis Obispo 
has been deprived, by the caprice of chance, of 
direct railroad communication ; she has been con- 
temptuously condemned by the arrogance of igno- 
rance as a " cow county." She has wilted and almost 
withered beneath the traditional lethargy of her Silu- 
rian settlers; but, with the speedy completion of the 
Southern Pacific railroad, a radical change has already 
commenced — a resurrection is at hand. The gap 
between Ehvood and Santa Margarita will soon be 
closed, and that will be the route taken by passengers 
east by way of New Orleans. 

At San Luis Obispo, with only 3,000 inhabitants, 
there is over 1 1,000,000 lying on deposit in the three 
banks. Within the past year many notable improve- 
ments have been completed. A much needed system 
of sewerage has been laid down; a magnificent 
county bank has been built; a club, in its small way as 
luxurious as the Pacific Union, has been organizec 
Chrome reduction works and an ice factory wil. 
shortly be in full blast, while numerous new build- 
ings testify abundantly to a generous confidence in 
the future. Nor has progress stayed her hand at 
San ^vuis. Arroyo Grande, Niponee and Paso Robles, 
bear eloquent witness to the contrary. In Paso Robles 
upwards of a quarter of a million dollars has been 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. ^Slt 

expended in private and municipal improvements since 
last Christmas. This town boasts a superb hotel, an 
elaborate bath-house, a street railway, and an ever- 
growing reputation for push and enterprise. 

The taxable property of the county in 188-i was 
$6,000,000 ; to-day it is's20.000.000. Tiie population in 
1880 was 9,142. It is now more than 20,000. San 
Luis raises the biggest onions in the world, some of 
them weighing four pounds apiece. Her Ceibbages are 
Brobdignagian. Herpumkins might be converted into 
coaches without the fairy wand of Cinderella's god- 
mother. Her potatoes are simply monstrous ; one of 
them would prove a meal for Garantua himself. She 
makes, moreover, the finest butter and cheese in Cali- 
fornia, but these, the industries of her infancy, will 
give place in her maturity to others more complex and 
remunerative. Prunes do especially well. One orchard 
this season has netted its fortunate owner slTo per 
acre. An eminent authority has pronounced the east- 
ern slopes of the Coast range to be the special domain 
of the Sauterne grape. A walnut tree, carelessly 
planted in the garden of one of the city fathers, pro- 
duced this year a crop that sold for $35, a most per- 
tinent fact and almost incredible. 

But San Luis Obispo prides herself upon more 
esthetic features than those just enumerated. If she 
appeals to the poor she appeals also to the rich. Her 
scenery is pastoral and charming. Her climate is salu- 
brious, equable and delightful alike in summer and 
winter. At Pismo there is the best clam beach in the 
world, dear alike to the horseman and tlie gourmand, a 
broad ribbon of hard, dazzling sand more than twenty 
miles long, the finest road in the State. There are 



238 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOlC. 

trout in the brooks, quail and deer in the hills, and 
ducks upon the lakes. There is, in a word, profit for 
all and pleasure for all. To the farmer, the horticul- 
turist, the invalid and the sportsman San Luis Obispo 
holds out her hand in cordial greeting. She courts in- 
vestigation, she invites criticism, and she demands, first 
and last, recognition. 

When the improvements at Port Harford are com- 
pleted, she will possess an excellent harbor, destined 
to be the terminus of a transcontinental road. Her 
fisheries are most valuable and almost unexploited. 
Her mineral springs are famous the world over. Her 
soil, with proper cultivation, yields many and diverse 
treasures. She produces all the cereals and fruits of 
the temperate zone with a truly tropical exuberance. 
In her mountains are quicksilver, onyx unexcelled in 
the world, copper, coal, chrome, iron, granite, gold and 
silver. There are inexhaustible supplies of asphaltum 
and bitumen, and beneath these deposits are vast 
reservoirs of petroleum yet undeveloped. 




EUN COUNTY was organized in 1866, from 
the territory originally assigned to Mariposo. 
It derives its name from the river discovered and 
named by Lieutenant JVIoraga years before. The fur 
traders trapped the beaver in the San Joaquin river 
and tributaries before the discovery of gold ; but Cap- 
tain C. H. Weber, the founder of Stockton, was the 
first permanent settler in the valley. The broad plains 
and beautiful rivers of this section had attracted many 
Mexican rancheros, who, with their fatted herds, 
enjoyed the greatest freedom. Later the raining inter 



CALIFORXIA GOLD BOOK. 239 

ests predominated; only for a short season, however, as 
the husbandman's plow no sooner turned the soil than 
the beautiful yield gladdened the hearts of the settlers, 
and in a few vears the lowing- herds grave wav to ham- 
lets and villacres. These earlv settlers were g^ood, old- 
fashioned people who cared very little for politics and 
the outside world, and staved at home and tilled their 
farms, raised stock, made money, and were contented 
and happy. 

The county seat of Kern, when fii'st established, was 
fixed at Havilah, a town which owed its prominence to 
mining. In 1S71 it was removed to Bakei'sfield, on the 
Southern Pacific i-ailroad, and as that has been made a 
small city by the combined influence of the fruits and 
vines and the railroad, it will suffer no farther inter- 
ference. Indeed the Southern Pacific Company has 
made the immense progress and prosperity of Kern 
county possible, as it has every one of the sections 
reached by its great number of branches. 

In the early part of 1854 a party of emigrants on 
their way from Los Angeles discovered gold within 
the limits of what is now known as Kern county. The 
news of the finding of the precious metal spread 
rapidly throughout the State, but it was not till 1857 
that the great rush, called the Kern river gold excite- 
ment, memorable throughout the State, as one of these 
periodical furors which in former years so peculiarlv 
characterized California, was made. Soon the mount- 
ains swarmed with eager men searching for gold, and 
it was not long till other discoveries were made, and 
French Gulch, Spanish Gulch, Havilah, Keysville and 
other places of similar character and names were found 
to contain a considerable amount of the precious metal. 



240 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

The placers which had been found in the gulches, and 
bars and flats along the river, were soon exhausted, 
and attention was turned to the source of the treasure 
and efforts made to discover it. Numerous small leads, 
and one large one were found near Keysville, and a 
quartz mill was erected in the vicinity in 1859. It was 
soon found that without large capital mining in this 
county was not profitable, and soon placer mining was 
entirely abandoned and quartz mining became the 
dominant interest. After being successfully worked 
for a number of years the inhabitants of the camps 
turned their attention toward agriculture. But of 
late years the discovery of better and more economical 
methods of working gold-bearing ores has led to a 
partial resumption of quartz mining, and there is good 
promise for the future. 

In earlier times this section was only a cattle and 
sheep pasture. Later it was noted for its fine breed 
of horses, principally those raised by J. B. Haggin on 
his famous Rosedale farm. Now it is becoming cele- 
brated for its fine fruits. Its peaches are among the 
best produced in the State. Five large and prosperous 
colonies have been established in the Kern delta, 
three of which have been more recently planted by the 
Kern County Land Company and are in a prosperous 
condition. The Deacon Brothers, from Indiana, are 
inducing colonists from their old neighborhood to 
settle near Bakersfield. Other colonies are being pro- 
moted. A majority of the residents of two of these 
colonies are English people, and they seem to be very 
contented in their new homes. Rosedale colony is the 
largest and has been improved to such an extent that 
It looks like a garden. Large vineyards have been 



CALFFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 241 

planted and will give their first good yield the coming 
season. 

This valley, or what is called the Kern delta, is 
undoubtedly the coming garden spot of the San 
Joaquin valley. There is no kind of fruit that does 
not grow here to perfection, owing to the excellent cli- 
mate and the peculiar formation of the soil. The 
irrigation system being owned and controlled by a 
company of a few persons, and under one management, 
it can be made to produce the best results. The culti- 
vation of alfalfa is one of the main industries, and 
corn, Egyptian corn and beets grow and yield 
immensely. There are several fine orange orchards in 
the foothills of the Tehachapi range, the principal one 
being owned by General Beal on his famous Tejon 
ranch. Delano, Sumner and Tehachapi are all thriving 
towns, and altogether Kern county is proud of her 
present condition and has flattering prospects for the 
future. The shipments of wheat, fruit and other 
products of Kern county by the Pacific railroad from 
Bakersville for the year 1892 amounted to about 
$2,500,000 in value. 



AJ^TA BARBARA COUNTY is one of the 
original sub-divisions of the State, with the 
town of Santa Barbara for the county seat. It is 
the most desirable residence locality in the State, and 
produces everything needed to make life agre'eable. 
A single point is in evidence which should prove 
this. The mission fathers were renowned for select- 
ing the loveliest and most fertile and healthy spots 
for their missionary abodes. San Buenaventura, Santa 



242 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Barbara, Lompoc, Purisima and Santa Ynez were at 
one time within the boundaries of Santa Barbara 
county. 

The Santa Barbara mission was founded December 4, 
1776. Antonio Paterna and Christoval Bramos were 
the first priests in charge. The first church was built 
not far from the present center of the town, near the 
old presidio walls. It was made of boulders laid in 
mortar. After the new church or present mission 
building was erected the old church was used as a 
school-house until it became unsafe. Here, under the 
most favorable circumstances, with a mild climate and 
a fertile soil, the mission grew in wealth and popula- 
tion. In 1802, Humboldt, who was visiting Mexico, 
examined the returns of the missions of Alta Cali- 
fornia, and expressed much astonishment at the amount 
of cattle and other stock which had accumulated in 
twenty years, especially as a large number of Indians 
had to be fed from the yearly production. In 1812 the 
mission fed 1,300 people, had 4,000 head of cattle, 
8,000 sheep, 250 swine, 1,332 horses and 142 mules. 
The productions for the year were 3,853 bushels of 
wheat, 400 of corn, 126 of barley and 26 of beans. 

In time a new church building was required, and the 
material from which it was constructed was a peculiar 
quality of soft sandstone, which was procured in great 
abundance from a neighboring canyon, and was easily 
split into the required shapes. Tools had to be made 
from old scrap iron obtained from the ships, and the 
wondering Indians were taught blacksmithing. Thei-e 
were at least two hundred Indians, representatives of 
forty different and hostile tribes, employed in breaking 
and arranging the stone. This fact alone proves that 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 243 

Fathers Kapoli and Victoria, under whose direct charge 
the Indians worked, were men of far more than ordi- 
nary ability, for it required no small amount of skill to 
keep these members of hostile tribes on a harmonious 
basis. 

The girls were gathered together, and taught to 
clothe themselves, and to card and spin and weave the 
fabrics from which their clothing was made. Fruit 
trees were planted, and a mill erected by a small 
stream, which, in itself an insignificant affair, was, 
nevertheless, to the Indians the work of some super- 
natural beings. The friars got along very well with 
the Indians until several of the chiefs began to revolt 
at the custom which was gradually being adopted of 
placing the young squaws in a kind of nunnery as soon 
as they became of age. This the chiefs of the different 
tribes objected to, and organized a band of hostile 
warriors, who attacked and attempted to demolish the 
mission ; but the revolution was quelled in the bud and 
the hostiles put to flight. 

The missions became so prosperous, and their landed 
interests so extensive, that several of the neighboring 
Spanish grandees looked with covetous eyes upon the 
property of the Franciscan friars. It was all right for 
the o^randees to hold laro^e landed estates themselves, but 
it went against their grain to see anyone else in posses- 
sion of them. They accordingly proceeded to incense 
the Indians against the priests, charging despotism, 
robbery and tyranny. There used to be a yearly col- 
lection in Mexico amounting to $50,000 to help the 
missions, but this -was now stopped. The friars knew 
not what to do. At last several of the Mexicans began 
claiming large portions of the mission property, and in a 



944 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

short time all the missions of California were confiscated 
by the State. It was a foolish move on the part of the 
authorities. The Indians immediately ran wild and 
soon returned to their old haunts and modes of living, 
committing many crimes and robberies on the colon- 
ists, until they finally became so dangerous that the 
existence of the colony was for a time in danger. 
After a few years almost the entire possessions of the 
missions were in the hands of the Mexican farmers 
and cattle raisers. 

So far the county of Santa Barbara was chiefly in- 
habited and controlled by wealthy Mexican ranchers, 
whose farms consisted of thousands of acres, most of 
w^hich was unlised. When it became known through- 
out the State that the great ranches were being broken 
up, and that the best of the land was obtainable, in 
some instances as low as twenty-five cents an acre, an 
immiirration commenced that in a few months revolu- 
tionized the whole industrial and social condition of 
society. The newcomers opened a variety of indus- 
tries. Wheat, which had been raised in small quanti- 
ties and ground up into an inferior quality of flour, 
for home use, was now raised for export. At first 
those who engaged in this pursuit were discouraged, 
owing to there being no wharves from which it could 
be transferred to ships. As the rich and productive 
quality of the soil became known, wharves were pro- 
jected, and the Santa Barbara wharf was constructed 
in the summer of 1868 by a company of citizens. Pre- 
vious to this all freight was transferred from the ships, 
which lay a mile or two from shore; by means of surf 
boats, and was generally in a deplorable condition be- 
fore it reached its destination. About this time atten- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 245 

tion was drawn to this locality as a delightful place 
for residence and health resort, and people commenced 
coming in from all parts of the country. A boom set 
in and soon modern Santa Barbara grew up in and 
about the ancient Spanish Pueblo. New settlements 
sprang up in the succeeding year in various directions, 
notably in the northern part of the county, where 
Lompoc, Santa Ynez and other places are among the 
centers of population. 

The mining and shipment of bituminous rock and 
asphaltum in this county have assumed some consider- 
able magnitude during the past year or two, and the 
output is constantly increasing. At Carpenteria thou- 
sands of dollars have been expended in erecting refin- 
ing works, putting in switches, building houses, etc. 
for the workmen engaged in developing the asphaltum 
products. 

Santa Barbara has always contended that she has a 
remarkably safe anchorage for large vessels, as well as 
ample wharfage room for the accommodation of deep 
sea ships. This has been illustrated in the fact that all 
British war-ships passing up and down the coast now 
make a regular practice of putting in here for provis- 
ions, meats, and supplies of various kinds, all of which 
goes to prove the availability of the harbor, which 
jealous outsiders term an " open roadstead " for the 
accommodation of deep-draft vessels. During a single 
week recently there have been three British men-of- 
war in the harbor, the Warsprite, Melpomene and 
Nymphe. The fact that the United States Government 
has made a permanent course in the channel of Santa 
Barbara for speed -testing the war vessels built on the 
coast is a point of local importance of which the 
citizens feel proud. 



246 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Hon. El wood Cooper and others have rendered 
Santa Barbara noted for its fine olives, which had 
become an important part of the daily fare under the 
padre regime. Its walnuts, almonds, figs, oranges 
and lemons are not surpassed by those raised else- 
where in the State, "^hen the Southern Pacific Com- 
pany conveys all its thousands of Eastern passengers 
through Santa Barbara, not one in a thousand but will 
ask for a "Stop-over" at that point, and not one but 
will leave it with regret, whether the season be what 
the almanacs say should be summer, fall, or winter, 
but of which changes no note is taken in equable 
Santa Barbara. 



"^I^ENTUPtA COUNTY was segregated from the 
\ / lower end of Santa Barbara in 1872, and San 
Buenaventura designated as the county seat. Up to 
1860 very nearly ail of what is now Ventura county 
was held by Mexicans in ranches of great extent, and 
there were but nine foreign families residing within its 
limits. This was due to the fact that its territory had 
been selected by favorites of the Mexican authorities 
because of the salubrity of the climate, the fertility of 
the soil and the natural beauty of the surroundings : 
and these favorites had obtained grants for just as 
large tracts as possible before the country came into 
the possession of the United States, and by the terms 
of the treaty with Mexico these grr.nts had to be con- 
firmed. Americans did not care to till and improve 
soil which they could not own, and notwithstanding 
all the 2reat natural advantages. Ventura was avoided. 
But the time came when some of the Mexican ranchers 



CALIFORXIA GOLD BOOK. 247 

^ere induced to dispose of portions of their great but 
unproductive estates. The ranches Santa Paula, Sat- 
icov, and Colonia or Santa Clara were divided and 
quickly found purchasers. Xew blood was introduced, 
and the era of progress and prosperity began for 
Ventura which has never had a check since. 

San Buenaventura mission was founded March 31. 
17S2, by Junipero Serra, and was placed in charge of 
Fathers Bonito and Camban. The first mass was said 
in a shanty erected for the purpose near the south- 
eastern comer of the old orchard of the present 
mission. The church was fi^rst erected near the same 
place, but, owing to a sudden rise of the Ventura 
river which washed the foimdation away, had to be 
abandoned. A new church was soon erected on an 
elevation above any such danger, and palm and fruit 
trees were planted in great abundance. The building 
is stiU standing in the center of the city of Ventura, 
and is an object of great interest to alL Many of the 
most prominent buildings in the present town are on 
the ground once occupied as the garden of the mission. 
As in the case of all churches built subsequent to the 
great earthquake, which occurred in December, 1811, 
the walls are of extreme thickness, being nearly six 
feet at the base. 

The first church was dedicated September 9, 1TS9. 
Four priests are interred within its walls. This mis- 
sion, Uke many of the others, had great trouble with 
the Indians, many of the neighboring tribes being 
extremely warlike. Petty insurrections were numer- 
ous and frequent, but usually terminated in nothing 
serious. The habit of shutting up the Indian girls 
when they arrived at maturity was the cause of more 



24« CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

trouble than anything else. In 1834 there was quite 
an uprising and although at the beginning it looked 
as though the days of the mission were at an end, 
the fathers, with the aid of the Indians who remained 
true, succeeded in driving the hostile tribes off. The 
tile roof of the church was entirely destroyed by the 
severe earthquake of 1857, but was soon replaced by 
one of shingles. 

Within the past year this county has made rapid 
progress in material wealth, and its poDulation has 
increased twenty-eight per cent. It is the largest 
producer of beans of any county or section of the 
State. The value of its last season's output exceeded 
$1,000,000, and the barley crop approximated 700,000 
centals. A great deal of the valley and foothill lands 
formerly devoted to the raising of cereals has been 
planted to fruits and walnut trees, and during the 
year 1892 se^'eral thousand acres have been set out to 
young orchards, the apricot and prune predominating. 
The brown-stone quarries have been woiked more 
extensi\'^ly the past season, and considerable progress 
has been made in developing the gypsum and asphalt 
deposits, which bid fair to become profitable indus- 
tries. 

The oil industry, which has its center at the rapidly 
growing town of Santa Paula, has doubled its pro- 
portions within the past twelve months, and the out- 
put of crude petroleum at that point alone exceeds 
1,000 barrels per day. New wells and new territory 
have been developed, and the outlook for an extensive 
permanent and profitable oil industry could not be 
better. 

Within the past year an incorporated companv has 



CALIFORNIA GOLD ROOK. 349 

obtained a franchise and the right of way to build an 
electric railroad between Ventura and the beautiful and 
far-famed Ojai valley, a distance of twelve miles. The 
track has been laid through and cars, which have arrived 
at the Southern Pacific depot, will be running over that 
part of the line very shortly. Huneme, New Jerusalem, 
Saticoy, Montalvo, and the new towns in the county^ 
have all made progress in 1892, and promise better for 
the future. 



mOS ANGELES COUNTY was organized by the 
first legislature in February, 1850. Its boun- 
daries embraced considerable more territory than at 
present. Los Angeles city always has been the seat of jus- 
tice. The county is now about one hundred and twenty 
miles long and seventy-two broad at its greatest measure- 
ment. There are about 3,000,000 acres of land in the 
county, much of which is wonderfully rich and pro- 
ductive. 

The peublo of the Queen of Angels, as an abiding 
place for the mission soldiers, was founded September 
4, 1781, the proclamation of its establishment having 
been issued by Felipe de Neve, governor of California, 
in August of that year. The site was upon the spot 
occupid formerly by the Indian village Yangna. 
" Nuestra Senora la Keyna de los Angeles" — Our Lady, 
the Queen of the Angels — was to be the fostering and 
protecting spirit, and her name was given to the pueblo. 
Twelve adult males and their families, comprising forty 
six people, founded the place. History relates that one 
of the adults was a native of China. The houses, built 
of adobe, very small and roofed over with asphaltum 



250 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOI^. 

brought from near-by deposits, were faced upon three 
sides of a square, wherein was a pubhc building. Los 
Angeles was in fact an outpost merely of San Gabriel 
mission, eight miles to the east, and founded ten years 
before, to which place the people went for their pro- 
visions and to witness the Sunday festivities. 

History begins for Los Angeles county much back 
of the city or even the San Gabriel mission. The 
white explorers who first penetrated to California's 
wilds, and exploded the once existing theory that it 
was a vast island, were that band of intrepid Jesuits 
under Father Kino (more properl}^ Kuhn) who reached 
the Gila and Colorado rivers and then traveled over 
the valleys and mountains to the southwest in the year 
1700. By 1720 he and his coadjutors had established 
fifteen missions upon the peninsula of California, but 
forty-six years later the king of Spain removed them. 
In 1767 the Franciscan friars took their places, to be 
in turn displaced five years after by the Dominican 
friars. 

The Indians whom the friars found, and for whose 
conversion and civilization they so earnestly labored, 
were an unusually fine tribe. They had forty villages, 
including settlements upon Santa Catalina and San 
Clemente islands. Civil war was never waged. Their 
villages contained from 500 to 1,500 huts. " Suanga" 
was the largest. These Indians have been called 
" Calhuillas," a name which is said to have attached to 
them through a blunder, as the word was used by 
them as a salutation and signifies " master." They 
enjoyed a very complete government. In their religion 
they had no belief in purgatory or hell, and wor- 
shiped one god, " Qua-o-ar," very reverently. Many 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 251 

people question whether the modern innovation on 
their sound beliefs was a beneiit. Local laws and 
customs among these people constrained each to 
behavior that mi^ht still be exemplary in many Christ- 
ians. Unlike most California tribes, the men did a 
good deal of hunting and were very successful in slay- 
ing deer and smaller animals, wliich were very 
plentiful. Their funeral feasts and other ceremonials 
were very weird and solemn. In one of them a young- 
eaglet, captured just before he could fly, was nurtured 
to maturity, and ttien, after a most impressive and 
mysterious adjuration to send only happiness and 
prosperity from the Great Spirit to the natives, the 
bird was killed, and its soul was thereby freed. The 
body was then burned upon the fire of the feast. A 
number of legends and traditions existed among these 
Indians that would have done credit to the proudest of 
the Latin race. One corresponds closel\" to the tale 
of Orpheus and Eurydice. Another relates that the 
Pleiades are seven beautiful Indian maidens who trans- 
formed themselves into stars because their husbands 
treated them shamefully and ate all of the rabbits they 
killed, instead of dividing with them. Fortunately 
this transformation business on the part of females is 
a lost art. One of the prettiest tales is that the moon 
is the mother of the Indian nation, having given birth 
to the first female child among them. 

The mission San Gabriel was founded in the year 
1771. The next mission built upon Los Angeles 
county's territory was tnat of San Juan Capistrano in 
1776. This mission was particularly ambitious in the 
size and strength of its buildings, thirty years being 
required for the completion of the structure. Six 



353 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

years later a terrible earthquake shattered some of the 
adobe dwellings, and thirty-six victims, priests and 
neophvtes, were buried in the ruins. 

In 1822 Mexico had become independent of Spain. 
The same priests at the mission took new oaths of 
alleo'iance and administered the new ones to the 
Indians. There was no apparent change of govern- 
ment at the missions beyond these oaths. The 
destruction of the missions was in progress from 1824 to 
1836. The Indians were manumitted in 1824-26, and 
soon fell into degenerate ways. In 1834 order was 
restored by again placing the Indians under control of 
the padres. Soon after the authorities at Santa Ana 
took the " pious fund " from the missions, and then 
divided up the lands, promulgating laws for the gov- 
ernment of towns thus established. The priesthoods 
were abolished. Soon a wholesale destruction of the 
vast herds of cattle that the missions owned was begun. 
Only the hides and tallow of the beasts were saved. 
Many white settlers took bands of young stock and 
thereby started herds of their own. At the mission 
buildings were unroofed, timbers burnt, orchards and 
vineyards torn up and despoiled ; everything ruined. 
The Indians refused to cut down the vines, but Mex- 
icans afterward did it. The natives went back to their 
tule huts and resumed their religion, which had never 
been really abandoned for a moment. Thus were any 
benefits that might have resulted to the aborigines 
swept aside, and the work of the mission fathers went 
for naught. 

The honor of having been the first English speaking 
settler of Los Angeles county is claimed by W. Whittle 
and Joseph Chapman. Whittle produces an old Span- 



. CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 263 

ish document dated 1835, in which he claims to have 
been in the country twenty years — ^^that is since 1815, 
There are now large numbers in the county who may 
claim the title of " pioneers," and they may well be 
proud of the progress which has accompanied their 
residence and recompensed their efforts. 

Los Angeles city has made an even race with the 
country since the beginning of its growth, and during 
the last five years especially. The permanent residents 
have no just appreciation of the remarkable advance 
made. Absentees, returning, after five years abroad, 
can see it, and find it hard to realize that such won- 
derful progress could be made in so short a time. New 
faces are seen everywhere, and it is estimated that the 
increase in population since the taking of the census 
has been fully twenty per cent. An internal sewer 
system, costing $374,000, has been completed, and 
$395,000 voted to pay for an outfall sewer to the 
ocean. A municipal water system, to cost $526,000, is 
to be constructed. There is over $10,750,000 on deposit 
in the nineteen banks in Los Angeles, or about as much 
as there was during the boom, when money was not in 
great demand. The post-office receipts are about the 
same as they were in 1887, when people stood in line 
for hours to get their mail. 

Los Angeles has twelve lines of railroad centeiing 
there. The Santa Fe Company has commenced work 
on a handsome depot, rendered necessary by growing 
business. There are one hundred miles of street rail- 
road, mostly cable and electric, the cars carrying over 
12,000,000 passengers in 1892. Much street improve- 
ment has taken place in a 3'ear, and there are now one 
hundred and five miles of graded road, all of it paved 



254 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

or macadamized, and all the business streets are paved 
with bituminous rock or asphalt. 

Coaches run to the most popular resorts, very many 
persons preferring the coach to the railroad car because 
of the advantage thus obtained of seeing the countrj'. 
A coach conveys passengers through the great orchards 
and vineyards to Baldwin's Santa Anita ranch and 
Monrovia. Many go and go again, allured by the 
magnificent beauties along the route, not less than by 
the gorgeous hospitality of Mr. Lawrence, at the Hotel 
Oakwood, Arcadia. 

The planting of fruit trees during the past year has 
been something to marvel at. There are now about 
1,500,000 fruit trees growing in the county, and an 
immense area of orchard was planted this winter. 
Great profits have been made during the past year by 
our horticulturists in deciduous fruits — prunes, apri- 
cots, peaches, etc. — and these now rival the citrus 
varieties in popularity. This year Los Angeles county 
commenced the shipment of deciduous green fruits to 
the East on a commercial scale, forty car loads being 
forwarded from Pomona alone. This industry, which 
has hitherto been confined almost exclusively to 
northern California, promises soon to rival the orange 
business in importance. The introduction of a correct 
method of curing lemons, and the high prices received 
for the crop, have given a great impetus to that branch 
of horticulture. 

Pasaaena, which suffered much from the subsidence 
of the real estate boom, has taken a fresh start this 
year. Property is frequently changing hands and 
trade is active. Much building has been done and new 
land placed under cultivation. An outfall sewer 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 255 

system has been completed, more water developed, 
and a large storage reservoir constructed. A manual 
training school and polytechnic institute of high grade 
has been opened. 

Pomona has more than maintained its prestige as 
the leading " all around " horticultural center of the 
county. Shipments of fruit and profits have both been 
large. Pomona has become headquarters for the olive 
industry. A mill to crush the fruit has been built. 
The fruit crop of Pomona for 1892 was worth nearly 
§4:00,000, an amount which will be more than doubled 
two years hence. Five fruit dryers and a cannery 
have been running all the season. Two fine school 
buildings costing $16,000 and $20,000 are being built. 
A great electric light and power system, the supply 
being drawn from San Antonio canyon, thirteen miles 
distant, has recentlv been completed. 

Whittier has made many solid improvements during 
the year, since an improved water supply was obtained. 
It is estimated that 35,000 trees were planted this 
year. A cannery, sorghum factory, broom factory and 
drying establishment have been hard at work. Many 
lemon trees are being planted. 

Land owners throughout what is known as the " Los 
Nietos country" — Downey, Los Nietos, Norwalk, 
Compton, etc. — have been growing rich on their boun- 
tiful products of corn, butter, cheese, fruit, etc. From 
Rivera about seventy car loads of walnuts were 
shipped. 

Along the coast great activity has prevailed. At 
Santa Monica the Southern Pacific has extended its 
track along the beach three miles to Santa Monica 
canyon, where the company is at work on its new 



256 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

wharf, 4,600 feet long, the longest wharf in the world. 
This company has started in to make Santa Monica, 
and there is no doubt it will succeed. The Soldier's 
Home, built on the land donated for the purpose — 
worth several hundred thousand dollars — by Senator 
Jones of Nevada, and Colonel Baker of Los Angeles, 
has been much improved, and proposes to compete with 
the best orchards in the county. 

Redondo has lengthened its wharf and built up a 
big business, being ahead of San Pedro in coastwise 
freio-ht. A handsome casino has been built for the 
convenience of visitors, with which the resort has been 
crowded during the summer. San Pedro expects a big 
boom now that the government engineers have recom- 
mended that place as a site for the deep water harbor, 
to cost nearly $3,000,000. Long Beach is at work on a 
wharf 1,631 feet long, to cost $15,000. Santa Catalina 
island has become a most popular resort, having had as 
many as 2,000 visitors at a time during last summer. 



AN BERNARDINO COUNTY was formed in 
1853, with the town of the same name as county 
seat. There was a small settlement of Spaniards on the 
Santa Ana river, about where the city of San Bernar- 
dino is situated. There were no Americans resident in 
that great territory when gold was discovered. 

After Brigham Young and his followers located at 
Salt Lake he determined to get a foothold on the 
Pacific coast, preliminary to gaining possession of the 
whole land. To that end about three hundred men, 
women and children were sent to plant an outpost in 
the far-off land, and after numerous trials purchased a 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 257 

tract of land from the Lugo famil}^, who were in pos- 
session of the San Bernardino ranch, a Spanish grant 
of 46,000 acres, and at once set about making improve- 
ments. They laid out the town of San Bernardino on 
the plan of Salt Lake City, giving it broad streets lined 
with Cottonwood trees and irrigating ditches. Fields 
of grain were planted, orchards and vineyards set out, 
and soon a thriving settlement was established in the 
heart of what had been until that time an immense 
cattle range. Attracted by the fame thus given to this 
section, many Gentiles now found their way here, and 
as their ideas and interests clashed with those of the 
pioneer settlers more or less trouble ensued, and for 
several years the valley was the scene of many broils 
and considerable bloodshed. Up to 185T, however, the 
Mormon element remained in the ascendant. But in 
that year came the famous Johnson mission of Utah, 
the first attempt made by the United States Government 
to bring Brigham Young and his fanatical followers 
to a realization of their duties toward the law. At the 
outset the Mormon prophet decided to resist the troops, 
and with this end in view he sent out hurried but 
peremptory orders for all the saints to return at once 
to the headquarters at Salt Lake, in order to present a 
solid front against the invading troops. 

The bulk of the settlers at San Bernardino obeyed 
their orders, and then occurred the memorable event 
known to this day in the history of San Bernardino as 
the Mormon exodus. It was necessary for the faithful 
to dispose of their property in the quickest manner 
possible; and, as the number of sellers far exceeded 
those able or willing to buy, the most ruinous sacrifices 
were made. Houses, farms, orchards and vineyards 



258 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

were sold for less than the traditional song, and in 
more than one instance they abandoned their all with- 
out receiving any recompense, and set out on the long 
and weary desert journey of nearly a thousand miles. 
Some few of the Mormons, with the memory of that 
fearful journey still fresh in their minds, and well 
content with their surroundings, paid no heed to the 
directions of their spiritual leader and concluded that 
they could worship God after the dictates of their own 
consciences fully as well in the San Bernardino valle^'' 
as in Salt Lake, and so remained. They had never 
practiced polygamy, or at all events not in their pres- 
ent abiding place, and had little difficulty in affiliating 
and even intermarrying with the Gentiles, who now 
poured in from all quarters. 

In 1859-60 gold was discovered in the stream head- 
ing in the mountain valley to the north of San Bernar- 
dino, and there was a repetition of the wild scenes of 
the early mining camps in California. Holcomb and 
Bear valley were the centers of great activity, and a 
crowd gathered there to whom law was a myth antl 
their passions the controlling element. When the war 
broke out, the majority in this section were rebel sym- 
pathizers, and the minority holding minor sentiments 
were compelled to be on their guard. The sympathizers 
with the South had a regular organization in Holcomb 
valley, and several expeditions were sent out to join 
forces with the Confederacy. One of these was led by 
a preacher who was killed before he reached his desti- 
nation. A small but determined organization of Union 
men was formed in the town of San Bernardino, and 
for some time the community was disturbed by the 
threats of the rebel sympathizers that they would cap- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 259 

ture and sack the place. The presence of some 
soldiers, and the determined attitude of the Union 
men, at the head of whom were George Lord, John 
Brown, Sr., William Heap and others, cowed the 
secessiofi sympathizers, however, and no violence 
was attempted. With the close of hostilities, at the 
surrender, all feelings of bitterness engendered by the 
war died out, and all joined in the work of improving 
the splendid country in which they lived. The com- 
pletion of the Southern Pacific railroad aided 
materially in the change, while the construction of vast 
irrigation enterprises, and the inauguration of many 
colony settlements completed the good work and 
wrought an entire revolution in the social structure. 

In 1871 the settlement at Riverside was commenced, 
and from the humblest and most discouraging begin- 
nings, has grown to a wealthy and prosperous 
community whose reputation is world-wide. In quick 
succession followed the Etiwanda, Ontario, Lugonia, 
Redlands and other similar settlements, while a per- 
fect network of irrigating canals and railroads now 
covers the entire valley, and the horticultural products 
of San Bernardino county are now among the choicest 
in the State. In the higher development of irrigation 
and horticulture, San Bernardino leads the State, and 
she is the example held up for imitation by every 
locality which desires progress and prosperity. 

A large share of this county is included within the 
limits of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, and here 
rich mines of gold, silver, copper and other minerals 
have been found, which have brought large wealth to 
their discoverers and owners. 

New and extensive irrigation enterprises liavc been 



2G0 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

organized, unci in time no water will be permitted to 
go to waste. It is believed that when all is utilized, 
supplemented by w^hat can be obtained from artesian 
wells, there will be no lands in the county which can- 
not be devoted to fruits and vines. The Southern 
Pacific and Santa Fe railroads have been the most 
pronounced benefactors to every section of this great 
county, preceding settlers to many points where there 
was fertile soil and a prospect that the vacant acres 
would be wanted for homes by immigrants. 

During the year last past Ontario's car of progress 
attained a gratifying speed, bringing its 2,000 jmssen- 
gers to the point of general prosperit3^ la horticulture 
Ontario's advance has been most pronounced, 1,015 
acres having been added to her fruit area in 1892, 
making the place second to Riverside in this point. 
Though but nine years old, Ontario's orange shipments 
will this season exceed 150 car loads. Several resi- 
dences, costing from $5,000 to $12,000 each, have 
recently been completed. Among the industrial 
enterprises inaugurated in 1892 was a fruit canning 
and drying plant costing $25,000. The plant was 
successfully operated last season, canning 900 tons of 
deciduous fruit. Ontario is now expending $400,000 
in making her water rights the best in the State. 

One of the youngest and most vigorous settlements 
in the count}^ and which is making remarkable ad- 
vance, is Chino. It is the seat of the beet sugar indus- 
try in southern California, which is proving of the 
highest industrial value to the community and the 
county in general. During the past year about 3,600 
acres of virgin soil have been brought under a high 
state of cultivation for the first time. The sugar out- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 261 

put from the Chino Yalley Beet Sugar factory was 
7,903,541 pounds. During the ooming season the 
factory will be enlarged and 5,000 acres planted to 
beets. There were also 147 acres of orchard trees 
planted, largely olives and prunes, making the present 
fruit acreage 611. A number of buildings have been 
completed during the year, including a $10,000 opera 
house and fine residences. The population of Chino is 
now about 1,500. 

Other points in the county are advancing rapidly. 
At Banning, Beaumont, South Riverside, Highland, 
Etiwanda, Cucamonga, Rialto, and all other favorable 
fruit districts, the area being reclaimed and planted to 
fruits of all kinds, citrus and deciduous, according to 
adaptability, is very large. In the Yucalpe valley 
twenty-five acres were planted to cherries, and as many 
more to apples, these fruits developing finely in that 
region. Needles, on the desert, is booming from her 
mineral interests, a large number of prospects having 
been developed successfully in that vicinity. A new 
smelter is in process of construction there, which will 
have a tendency to further encourage mining interests. 
At other desert points new mines are being opened up, 
all creating commercial enterprise and increased pros- 
perity. At no time since the boom has San Bernardino 
county evinced such decided prosperity as at the pres- 
ent. 



/:p\PtANGE COUNTY was created from the south- 
\^^/ easterly portion of Los Angeles county in 
March, 1889, with Santa Ana as the county seat. It was 
practically an orange orchard when established, and 



262 CALIFOKNIA GOLD BOOK. 

very appropriately assumed the name of the golden 
fruit. It contains about 500,000 acres, almost all of 
which is under cultivation. 

With the exception of tlie settlements at Anaheim 
and San Juan the history of Orange county dates from 
the latter part of the sixties. In 18G8 W. II. Spargeon, 
who laid out and established Santa Ana, settled at 
Avhat is now the corner of West and Fourth streets, 
where he erected a building and started a country 
store, llis first important competitor was L. Gild- 
macher, one of the best established and most prosper- 
ous of Santa Ana's merchants. 

Ten years later marks the advent of the Southern 
Pacific Railroad. During this interval the surround- 
ing country was converted from a sheep pasture 
to orange groves, fruit orchards and vineyards. At 
the close of another decade the Southern California 
Kailroad, a branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
Fe, had completed its line through the heart of the 
county, connecting Santa Ana with San Diego, San 
Bernardino and Los Angeles. 

The residents of Orange are principally immigrants 
from the Eastern States and Canada. Its educational 
and religious advantages compare favorably with those 
of any portion of the State. Its citizens are enter- 
prising and prosperous. By the completion of the 
Newport Eailroad Santa Ana has extended her import- 
ance as the commercial center of the county. The most 
marked progress by the county was made during the 
past year in the increase of her acreage planted to trees 
and vineyards, and devoted to agriculture. The artesian 
belt lying west of Santa Ana and Anaheim, much of 
which at this time last year was a vast pasture field, is 



CAIJFdkNFA GOLD BOOK. 263 

subdivided into eiglity acre ranches, upon each of which 
a comfortable cottage and necessary farm buildings 
have been erected, and corn and grain-fields are sub- 
stituted for pasturing herds and jackrabbits. 

Upon the peat lands south of Westminister an East- 
ern syndicate has planted acres of cellery and other 
vegetables which during January and February, 1893, 
they have been shipping to Eastern cities by the car 
load. In the vicinity of Garden Grove many acres of 
cabbage have been planted in the moist lands, and 
walnut groves grace the uplands. At Anaheim a 
corporation has been formed for the erection of a 
sugar beet factory, and sufficient acreage for the 
culture of beets has been secured to guarantee 
the successful establishment of the enterprise. At 
Santa Ana a committee is at work securing acreage, 
and making arrangements for the erection of a similar 
enterprise adjacent to the city. 

In Santa Ana the most important improvement of 
the past year was the completion of water-works cost- 
ing $60,000 by which pure artesian water is forced 
through ten miles of cast-iron mains to sixty -eight 
fire plugs distributed throughout the city and to most 
of the residences within the city limits. Anaheim, 
the second town in size in the county, was founded in 
1857 by a German colony, and is the oldest colony 
settlement in the county. Westminister, Fairview, 
Newport, .El Toro, El Modena, Yerba and San Juan 
are important towns and settlements, ranking in size 
in the order in which they are named. The latter is 
one of the oldest towns in the State, and is the site 
of the San Juan Capistrano mission, established in 1776. 
The most important seaside resorts are Newport Land- 



364 CALIFORNIA GOLD" BOOK. 

ing, Laguna, Arch Beach, San Juan-by-the-sea and 
Anaheim Landing. 



AN DIEGO COUXTT was the first one set 
apart in the original subdivision of the State, 
That was in accordance with the exact fitness of thinsrs. 
In very many material particulars the great Architect 
of the Universe had stamped it first among the places 
to be inhabited and improved by man, and it will 
retain that precedence until time is no more. Then it 
is true that this portion of the ISTorth xlmerican coast 
was visited by explorers many years before the name 
of San Diego was given to any portion of it. But 
those visits ^qvq productive of no results from a 
historical standpoint, and it was not until the cowled 
pioneers reached the shores of that great bay to which 
had been given the name of St. James, or San Diego, 
that the history of California actually was commenced. 
It was in 1603 that Admiral Sebastian Vizcaino, of the 
Spanish royal squadron, discovered and named this 
excellent and commodious harbor and gave the news of 
its existence to his royal master. It is evident, however, 
that little importance was attached to the discovery, 
for it was not until 165 years later, or in 1768, that the 
King of Spain issued a decree ordering the exploration 
and settlement of the territory adjacent to the bay of 
San Diego. This momentous undertaking was 
intrusted to Jose Galvez, the Royal Commissioner of 
New Spain, and in order that success might be assured 
two expeditions were sent out. one by land, and the other 
by sea. This latter consisted of three vessels, the San 
Carlos, Principe and San Jose, while the land expedi- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 265 

tion was divided into two portions, one commanded by 
Fernando Moncada and tlie other bv Governor Portola. 

The vessels arrived first in the harbor of San Diego, 
one of them entering the bay on the 11th of April, 
and the other on the 1st of May, 1769. while the third 
was never heard of after leaving the port of departure. 
The first of the land parties reached the bay shore on 
May 14th. and the other on the 1st of July. The 
water forces had made no attempt at establishing a 
land settlement, but on the 16th of July, the land 
having been formally taken possession of in the name 
of the king of Spain, Father Junipero Serra began the 
foundation of a mission called after the bay, San 
Diego, thus commencing the first civilized settlement 
ever founded in Upper California. The }X)int selected 
for the mission was on a hill overlooking the river in 
what is now known as Old Town, where was located 
an Indian village called Cosov. A number of buildings 
were erected, but the newcomers, for some reason, 
found the natives hard to deal with, and in less than a 
month there was a pitched battle with them, in which 
four soldiei-s were wounded and a boy was killed. It 
is evident that the natives were of a decidedly differ- 
ent temperament from their descendants of to-day, for 
they kept up their annoyances to such a degree that 
five years later it was decided to remove the establish- 
ment to a point some five miles distant. A place was 
selected at the head of what is now known as ]^[ission 
valley, and a site was chosen that commanded the 
surrounding territory, and promised to afford good 
vantasre jrround for defense against the hostiles. 

It was in August, ITTi, that the removal was made, 
and during the ensuing vear several substantial build- 



266 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

ings were commenced and much ground was prepared 
for planting. But in this new location no better success 
was met in dealing with the natives than in the old 
one. True, many were persuaded to assist in the work 
of building and preparing the land for cultivation, but 
it is evident there must have been a smoldering- dis- 
content at work all of the time, which took a year or 
more in coming to a head, but finally broke out with 
fearful violence. On the 5th of November, 1775, a 
large number of unconverted Indians, in company with 
a great portion of the neophytes, surprised the 
mission at night and made a desperate attack upon it. 
They set fire to the buildings, murdered their occu- 
pants, including the padre in charge of the place, and 
tortured to death the converts who refused to join 
them. Only five of the people in the mission escaped 
with their lives, and as over one thousand Indians 
were engaged in the attack, it seems remarkable that 
a single one should have survived the massacre. The 
military arm of the church stepped in at this juncture 
and the Indians received a punishment, the good 
effects of which were permanent. The following year 
the ruined buildings were replaced, and from that time 
on there was no further trouble of any moment, and 
the San Diego mission followed the usual fortune of 
those establishments, reaching a high stage of pros- 
perity, only to be ruined by the decree of seculariza- 
tion enforced by the Mexican government. 

After the mission was removed to the interior, the old 
buildings on the river bank were occupied by soldiers, 
and the presidio was established there. Down to 1825, 
with few exceptions, the entire civilized population of 
the place lived within the presidio inclosure, or so 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 9«7 

close at hand that they were within the protection of 
its guns. The Indians were disposed to commit depre- 
dations whenever opportunity offered, and were only 
deterred by the strong arm of the military. 

In 1835 the pueblo of San Diego was organized 
under the Mexican laws, but it was not until ten years 
later, or ISiS, that the assignment of the lands toth(> 
municipalit}'^ was made. A year latei California 
passed under the control of the American government 
and the pueblo organization was still maintained, the 
title of eleven square leagues, or 32,000 acres of land 
being subsequently confirmed to the city by the United 
States courts. 

When the war with Mexico came San Diego figured 
prominently in those historical times. The presidio 
had been abandoned in 1837, but the people erected 
earthworks and prepared to defend the place against 
the Americans in 1846. However, Commodore 
Stockton had no difficulty in entering the harbor and 
capturing the fort without the loss of a single man. 

On December 2, 1846, General Kearney with his 
small force of troops reached Warner's pass, and at 
once took the trail for San Diego. Four days later 
they reached San Pasqual, where they were encoun- 
tered by the Mexican forces under General Pico. 
Although largely outnumbered, the Americans, by 
making an unexpected attack before daylight on their 
enemies, succeeded after a hard fight in putting them 
to flight. Later in the day there was another skirmish 
which resulted as did the first, in the defeat of the 
Mexicans. Lieutenant Beale and Kit Carson managed 
to vvork their way through the country, which was 
alive with the enemy, and took word to Commodore 



268 CALIFORNIA COLD BOOK. 

Stockton at San Diego. That officer dispatched a force 
of marines and sailors to reinforce Kearney, who 
made the rest of the journey to the bay in safety. At 
this time the town consisted of only afbw adobe houses 
situated at the foot of a hill on a sana flat reaching 
from the head of San Diego bay nearly to False bay. 
There was no wharf, although a large amount of 
business was done in the shipment of hides and tallow 
in exchange for supplies of all kinds. San Diego was 
in fact the trading point for a vast extent of territory 
to the east, north and south. 

The people who camq here with the American 
occupation soon saw that if the town was to amount 
to anything a new and more accessible location must 
be chosen. Hence in March, 1850, a grant was made 
some distance to the southward of the old settlement 
for the establishment of what was to be known as 
New San Diego, and which is a portion of the present 
city. 

In the boundaries as originally fixed by the legisla- 
ture a considerable part of what is now in San 
Bernardino county was assigned to San Diego county. 
The first election was held on the 1st of April, 1850. 
There were only two precincts, and a total of 15T 
votes were cast, while the aggregate population as 
shown b\" the United States census of that year 
was 798, that of the city itself being 650. 

When the Americans came in they found much of 
the best land of the county already granted to the 
Spanish pioneers. There were no less than thirty -six 
such orrants, as follows : Agua Hedionda', Buena Vista, 
Cuca. Cuyamaca, El Cajon, Guajome, Guejito, Jamacha, 
Janal, Jamul, La Penasquitas, Montserrate, Mission 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 369 

San Diego, Nationai Eancho, Otay. Paaba, Paama, 
Penmsuia of San Diego, Rincon del Diaoio. San Vi- 
cente, Santa Ysabel, Santa Rosa, Santa Maria, Santa 
Dieguito, San Jose del Valie. San Bernardino. San 
Marcos. San Jacinto^ 2iaevo, Santa Margarit j Los 
Flores. San Hacinto Tiejo, Valley de San Felipe. Val- 
ley de San Jose and Temecole. The aggregate area of 
these grants is 75-4,753 acres^ while the area of the 
whole county is 9,530,000 acres, of which a considera- 
ble proportion consists of the and wastes of the Colo- 
rado desert, and which are hkely to remain arid wastes 
bat a short time. It has long been known that only 
water was needed to make these ansightly plains 
bloominor and verv lovelv. The ^roands about the 
Soathem Pacific depots, where water was applied, 
[»odiiced wcmderfolly. Aboat the close of 1S92, one 
of the arteaiaii wells b^ng bored by the railroad 
antlHwities near SahcMi lake b^an to flow from an 
eight-inch pqie, and enough pure cool water to inri- 
gate manj acres of the desert. Should other artesian 
wdUs do as well the whde desert may be reclaimed, 
|Ht)diici]ig abundantlj all the fruits of the tropics. 
This promises to be feasible, and if so San Diego will 
be not cmly one of the three largest, but much the 
richest county in Ameriea. 

For many years after the capture of San Diego by 
Commodore Stockton, a force of troops was kept at 
that place, and at different times officers were In com- 
mand who were destined to achieve subsequent fame, 
among them being General Heintzelman. Colonel 
Magmdo', Captain Winder and others. The first 
Pacific railroad survey was made imder the escort of 
a ofHupany of troops from San Diego, and among 



210 CALiFOKMlA GOLD BOOK. 

other discoveries made by the party was the point 
where the waters of the Mojave river disappear on the 
tlesert. 

It was not until 1851-52 that the turbulent Indians 
of San Diego received their final (juietus. While the 
tribes that had come into most intimate relationship 
with the whites were disposed to be friendly, there 
were others in the interior and on the borders of the 
desert who lost no opportunity for showing their hos- 
tility, not stopping short of murder in so doing. In 
the latter part of 1851 an attack was made upon the 
little village of Agua Caliente and several Americans 
were killed, while a number of buildings were burned. 
It was learned that a white man named Bill Marshall, 
who was married to a squaw, had instigated the 
Indians to this outbreak and had been concerned as 
well in other affairs in which Americans had been 
robbed or murdered. They were captured and taken 
to San Diego for trial. A court-martial was organized. 
The proceedings were summary, as the j^ioof was 
clear, and they were quickly found guilty and sen- 
tenced to be hanged on the following day. A few 
days after this four Indians, two of whom were village 
chiefs, were arrested and tried for complicity in the 
Agua Caliente affair. They also were convicted and 
sentenced to death, but the indignity of the gallows 
was exchanged for the more lionorable death by shoot, 
ing. The four were accordingly executed on Christmas 
morning, 1851, being shot by a detail of twenty sol- 
diers while kneeling at the heads of their graves. 

Antonio Garra, the leading chief of the interior 
tribes, a well-educated man and possessed of great 
influence, was also accused of taking a prominent part 



CALFFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 271 

in the Agua Caliente affair. He, too, was found guilty 
and was executed by being shot on January 11, 1852. 
His last words, as he stood by the side of his grave, 
were "Gentlemen, T ask your pardon for all my 
offenses and expect yours in return." Then he knelt 
and met his death like the brave man that he was. 
The execution of Garra com])letely cowed the Indians, 
and from that time to this, with the exception of some 
minor depredations, there has been no trouble with 
them. 

The era of exceeding prosperity did not dawn for 
San Diego until the advent of the Santa Fe railroad. 
Several surveys had been previously made, and some of 
the most prominent railroad men in the United States 
were identified with some of the propositions for 
reaching San Diego bay with lines extending by con- 
nections to the Atlantic States, and notably Tom Scolt 
of the Pennsylvania Company. By the efforts of San 
Diego citizens, supplemented with subsidies of lands of 
great value, the Santa Fe Company was induced to 
extend its branch, known as the Southern California 
Company, through San Diego city, establishing its 
terminus six miles beyond, at National city, at the head 
of San Diego bay. Then prosperity began, not alone 
for the bay region, but for all the country along its 
line to Los Angeles. The same experience was had 
which has attended the enterprising expenditures by 
the Southern Pacific Company on its numerous 
branches from Los Angeles county to Del Norte. 

An additional impetus was given to the progressive 
tide setting in for every part of California by a cutting 
of rates from the Atlantic States to the Pacific coast. 
Many thousands of Eastern ]ieople took advantage of 



272 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOR. 

the low fares and came, saw, and were conquered, and 
the era of booms was inaugurated. It was this that 
caused such a generous expenditure for timber to be 
used as stakes to mark off twenty-foot lots on the hills 
for miles surrounding the city of San Diego. Thou- 
sands of dollars were made by real estate men very 
frequently in a day, and none were wise enough to 
know that it was an experience that could not last. 
The reaction came, and not a few were wrecked ; but, 
.ike all storms, it left the air filled with healthy ozone, 
and the gloomy forebodings of the winter of 1887-8 
have not been realized. Those who abandoned the 
place in disgust at that time would not recognize city 
or country now. Every prediction of the boomers has 
been more than fulfilled, and none of the efforts 
expended for improvements have been wasted. Of 
course the railroad projects anticipated had to be sus- 
pended for a time ; but the Cuyamaca line, short as it 
is, has accomplished wonders for the country adjoining 
the whole line to its temporary terminus at Lakeside, 
and the National City and Otay road has fostered the 
orchard interest until the smoke of its engines shadows 
the brilliant green of orange, lemon and olive trees 
along its entire route. 

The boom builders of 1887 and 1888 made the city; 
the settlers of 1892 are making the county. For this 
reason, therefore, there is little to remark in the growth 
of the city. An opera house, one of the finest on the 
coast, completed and dedicated ; a jail, just started and 
to be pushed to completion ; one or two ware-houses 
and some stores and dwellings, with the power-house 
of the electric line, are about all the new buildings of 
the year. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 273 

Across the bay Coronado is moving in the direction 
of an electric line from the ferry to the hotel, and for 
a double paVed street on either side of the track for 
the entire distance. The hotel pier has been extended 
into the ocean and the Coronado railroad has been 
started on its extension across the islands connecting 
north and south to the south side of the harbor 
entrance at the old whaling station. 

The bay itself has passed a memorable year. The 
war vessels of several nations have dropped anchor 
inside, and for the first six months the vessels of Uncle 
Sam's squadron were in almost constant attendance. 
During the year the trouble with the Pacific Mail 
Steamship Co. has been partially won, so that now these 
steamers call in their coming and going. The first of 
Uncle Sam's money to be spent on the bay since the 
old San Diego river dike was built has been expended 
this year on the quarantine station and wharf on the 
La Plaza side of the bay. These have been begun, but 
will need an additional appropriation to finish. 

The exports and imports of the bay have not been 
material^ changed from last year, at least in the 
aggregate. The imports have been general merchan- 
dise, coal and cement from foreign ports and lumber 
from domestic ports. Exports have been of grain 
and general merchandise, mostly to Lower California 
and San Francisco. 

The growth of the back country increases from 
year to year, and the material wealth in orchards, 
vineyards and improved ranches is much larger than 
at any previous time. In the planting of citrus trees 
the Chula Yista section leads. Here hundreds of 
acres have been set to oranges and lemons, while 



274 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

many orchards previously planted are just coming 
into bearing. La Mesa, just east of [the city, Lemon 
grove, a little father east, and the Cajon valley have 
also planted largely of citrus trees, and the Escondido 
and Perris sections have done their part. 

The Mesa Grande, Fallbrook, Elsinore, Perris, 
Poway, Capitan, Grande and Escondido sections lead 
in the planting of deciduous trees, and during 1892 
those sections shipped dried fruits to the Eastern 
markets. Each of these localities, besides all other 
portions of the county, has made preparations to 
actively enter upon tree-planting this season, and the 
number of trees to be set out will be considerably 
over a million during the year 1893. 

The raisin industry has been on the increase, and 
the shipment, which has aggregated upward of two 
hundred carloads, an increase of nearly 100 per cent 
over last year, is likely to increase in a still greater 
ratio hereafter. 

In the matter of irrigation there has been a marked 
advance during the year, and several districts already 
formed are moving with success almost in sight. The 
Linda Vista district, just north of the city, lias been 
successful in issuing bonds and in disposing of a 
portion of them. The district is now the owner of 
the water rights, dam sites, and rights of way of the 
Pamo Water Company, and with the sale of other 
bonds will be able to place water on the lands and 
show some of the great advantages of irrigation in 
southern California. The district has seen the advent 
of many settlers during the year and much improve- 
ment. 

Proiiress is not limited alone to business and advance 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 375 

in values. It is shown in the large increase in the 
number of wealthy and well-to-do settlers who have 
found homes in the county. New settlers have come 
in and purchased land under the line of the San Diego 
flume, Or within reach of the Sweetwater system, and 
are improving it. Inside the city limits irrigation has 
been successfully tried. Lot stakes and block lines in 
some of the " boom " additions have been plowed up, 
and the city water system now carries water for the 
ii'rigation for some hundreds of acres of lemon 
orchards. 

San Diego appropriately rounds off and completes 
the history of California. The magnificent exhibits 
made in the Junior Fair at San Diego, during the 
spring of the World's Fair year, could be fairly dupli- 
cated in almost every county in the State. Probably 
no other could show a tomato tree nine months old, 
nineteen feet high, and with branches extending to a 
diameter of twenty-five feet, loaded with bloom and 
fruit on the first day of February, but all could present 
wonders as unspeakably strange to the agriculturists 
of the East, and enough to convince them that the 
claim of California that this whole State is really 
" God's own country," is an indisputable fact. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

RAILROADS. 

A history of California would be incomplete which 
neglected to speak of the first transcontinental rail- 
road, which opened the eyes of the world to the feasi- 
bility of overcoming apparent impossibilities, and 
spanning a continent, bristling with engineering difii- 



276 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

culties, with a continuous line of steel rails. The 
desirability of such a route was recognized by all 
thinking people, and the possibility of building it was 
earnestly and persistently discussed from within a very 
few years after the discovery of gold at Coloma. 

The agitation of the subject became so universal that 
the Government was induced to take notice of it, and 
several surveys were made b}^ Government engineers to 
establish the practicability of building a road from 
some point on the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, 
and the objective point on this side was conceded to 
be San Francisco. The demand for a transcontinental 
line had become so pronounced in the winter of 1859-60 
that the conventions of both the great political parties, 
which met in the latter year, were forced to take notice 
of it, and each inserted a plank in the platform on which 
its candidates asked for the popular support, fully en- 
dorsing the scheme and pledging its leaders to use every 
endeavor to enlist the Government in the behalf of a 
Pacific railroad. Up to this time Government and other 
eno-ineers were united in the opinion that any route but 
that on the thirty-second parallel, known as the South- 
ern route, presented engineering obstructions which it 
would be impossible to overcome ; or, if possible, the 
immense cost would prove an insuperable objection to 
its being undertaken by either the Government or pri- 
vate capitalists, or both combined. 

Pending these earnest discussions, the Civil War 
was precipitated upon the country, blotting from the 
possibilities the Southern route, but making the con- 
struction of a road through the Western Territories to 
the Pacific an enterprise upon which might probably 
depend the very life of the Nation, and certainly the 



caLtfornia gold book. 277 

ability to retain control of the rich and important 
States and Territories grouped on the Pacific coast. 
For several years preceding 1860, the Government 
had spent about eight million of dollars annually to 
freight army and Indian supplies, and carry the mails 
on this line across the continent. One year of turbu- 
lence on the part of the Southern sympathizers on the 
Pacific coast would inflict a greater expenditure on the 
Government for the transportation of soldiers and war 
material, if it designed to hold possession of this 
section of the country, than it would cost to build and 
equip the whole line, provided it was possible to find a 
passage through the great natural impediments on 
either the central or northern routes. At any rate, 
and without the increased expense which would follow 
on the heels of a conflict on the Pacific, the average 
annual expenditure for carrying mails and army and 
Indian supplies was doubling up with startling fre- 
quency. However great and vital as were the reasons 
for building this route, no one seemed to possess the 
courage to suggest a way by which it might be 
accomplished, much less undertake the stupendous 
work. 

At that time there were resident in Sacramento five 
gentlemen w^ho were known to their fellow citizens as 
wide-awake business men ; capable, energetic and hon- 
est, but who never would have been selected as great 
organizing forces which could accomplish financial and 
engineering impossibilities. These were Collis P. 
Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Charles 
Crocker and Theodore D. Judah. The four first named 
gentlemen were interested in obtaining quicker and 
cheaper means of sending supplies from their pLaces 



278 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

of business in Sacramento to the active mining camps 
in Nevada, where the great bonanzas were then trans- 
forming men of no wealth imto millionaii'es almost in a 
day. The fifth man was a thorough civil engineer, of 
some considerable experience, and possessing a wealth 
of rare judgment, which never made a mistake in 
regard to the grades and levels on a line which others 
had declared it impossible to utilize. Theodore D. 
Judah had thought much on the subject of a transcon- 
tinental road, and had viewed the mountains and 
canyons of the central route with the eye of an inspired 
survevor. His knowledge and enthusiasm was precisely 
the leaven required to set the other four enthusiasts on 
the road which, diflBcult and disheartening in places, 
resulted in the grandest achievement ever accomplished 
by the same number of men in the history of the 
whole world. When the others spoke of the profits to 
be derived from a road to tap the Comstock camps, 
Judah [X)inted to the peaks of the Sierra Nevada 
mountains, and recommended climbing these where 
national necessities would compel the Government to 
meet their road with one from the Missouri. The 
same necessities would compel the Government to 
back the road with its endorsement, and most likely, 
with its money. He combatted every objection to the 
route, and inspired a confidence in his judgment and 
his scientific attainments which was never withdrawn 
till his death, and which received the approval of suc- 
cess from Sacramento over the summit to the promon- 
torv. The j>ity of it is that death claimed Theodore 
D. Judah before the completion of the line proved his 
judgment superior to that of all the distinguished 
engineers employed by the Government, and who had 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 279 

repeatedly predicted disastrous failure for him and the 
courageous men who had staked money and reputation 
upon his assurances. All the work was performed on 
lines marked out by him, and his great worth remains 
green in the memory of the men who knew him well. 
It is probable that the company organization for 
the building of the road across the Continent was 
completed in 1860 ; for on the anniversary of Washing- 
ton's birth, 1861, Leland Stanford moved the first 
shovelful of dirt in the commencement of the great 
work, and his earnest associates then and there con- 
secrated all the money, muscle and energy each poss- 
essed to the consummation of a work unmistakably 
inspired of God. From that time on there was no 
cessation of effort on the part of these men. If they 
ever lost faith for a little time in their ability to complete 
the work, the world knew nothing of it. Neither of 
the men was a "capitalist" as the term is now under- 
stood. They were simply industrious business men, 
with wills as firm as the rock of Gibraltar. They had 
counted the cost before engaging themselves to each 
other, and from the beginning till the end each was 
engrossed in sustaining, encouraging and strengthen- 
ing the hands of the others. It has been said by some 
of these men that the chief difficulties were found 
before the first hundred and fifty miles had been com- 
pleted. That is doubtless so. In their first appeal to 
the public they received a discouraging reception. 
The people of the coast could measure the necessities 
for the road with as much exactness as the officers of 
the Government, or the anxious loyal men of the East. 
They had as lively a knowledge of what the building 
of this line would mean for their chief citv and their 



280 CALIFORNIA COLD BOOR. 

whole section. They had rnillions lying idle in some 
of the city banks, and exhibited themselves proudly as 
patriotic and public-spirited citizens. Could these 
men expect less than that those so prompt with speech 
would subscribe generously to a work for whose 
necessity they were at all times on record ? Listen : 

The books were prepared, and a certain day exten- 
sively advertised as the occasion uhen the million- 
aires of San Francisco would have an opportunity to 
enter their names for a limited number of shares. 
Not a subscriber darkened their door ! Believing that 
the moneyed men of San Francisco would protest 
against the enterprise passing into the control of 
Eastern capitalists, and that the first appointment had 
been misunderstood, another day was advertised, and 
was equally barren of results, only that a Frenchman 
subscribed for ten shares of stock. If this experience 
was not sufficient to convince the officers of the road 
of one or two things, nothing could. Either capital- 
ists could say a great deal that was not meant, or 
they were going to have a trying time in creating 
confidence in their ability to exploit so great and 
necessary an enterprise. 

There is no evidence that this sad disappointment 
of the projectors of the Pacific railroad ever depressed 
them, or caused a momentary doubt of the ultimate 
success of their undertaking. If the capitalists of 
California had adopted a procrastinating policy, the 
Congress of the United States was becoming more 
impressed with the vital necessity for promptness 
everv day. The possibility of trouble with England 
had been made sensibly apparent by the Trent aifair, 
and there was no way of knowing what other com- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOtC. 281 

plications might arise. Without a railroad across the 
mountains, the Pacific coast was practically a prize 
held out to any foreign nation inclined to accept it. 
So in 1862 an act was passed authorizing the organiza- 
tion of the Union Pacific Company to construct the 
road from the Missouri river to the California boundary 
line, and the Central Pacific Company to construct 
the balance of the road through the State, it being 
understood that the most difficult part of the whole 
line was that part lying toward the eastern limit of 
California, or over the Sierra Nevada mountains. 

The Union Pacific Company found it impossible to 
enlist capital, any more than could the Central Pacific, 
which was a corporation organized under the laws of 
California. But the latter, in the spring of 1863, 
began to build rapidly. The legislature of California 
had endorsed the company bonds to the extent of 
$1,500,000, and the city of San Francisco had subscribed 
for $600,000 of the company stock; several inland 
counties had also voted bonds in aid of the road. The 
progress made wasso promising that Congress, in 1864, 
modified the original contract to a considerable extent, 
and doubled the amount of the land grant. In 1866 
the limit was taken from the Central Pacific Company 
as to its eastern end, and both companies were author- 
ized to build until a connection was made. The time 
in which the whole road was to be completed remained 
as fixed by the original contract — in July, 1876. No 
premium was oft'ered by the Government for its earlier 
completion, as is usual in the case of shipbuilding 
and other great works authorized by Congress. If 
these men had been merely " worldly wise," instead of 
being patriotic citizens, a bargain might have been made 



382 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOlC, 

with Congress, relieving them of at least 20 percent of 
their obligations to the Government for every year 
they anticipated the contract time. This would have 
been an equitable arrangement, because every depart- 
ment of the government and every interest of the whole 
country was clamoring for the early completion of 
this great civilizing instrumentalit}'-. Had the Central 
Pacific Company been limited to the confines of Cali- 
fornia, as fixed by the contract of 1862, there can be 
no doubt that the Union Pacific Company would have 
required all the time allowed by that act to have 
reached the California boundary, and very probably 
would have been compelled to ask an extension of 
one or more years, as it was expected would be the 
case when the agreement was made by Congress. 

There are some facts which make the wonderful 
work performed by these men appear the more remark- 
able. Every report made by Gov^ernment engineers as 
to the impossibility of scaling tl)e mountain ranges on 
the Central route ; of the vast snowdrifts which 
assumed the proportions of avalanches, and would 
become insurmountable barriers during a large part of 
the year ; the fact that the bonds were sold for green- 
backs, and the high-priced employes demanded and 
received gold, then at a high premium, and the further 
fact that tools and material had to be brought around 
Cape Horn, which was always slow and dangerous, 
commanding the highest insurance premiums known — 
all operated to intimidate capital, and render it almost 
impossible to place the securities anywhere in the world. 
It will thus be seen that the Government, so anxious 
for the completion of the road, so deeply interested in 
having that event hastened, involuntarily became a 



CALITOA'X/A GOLD BOOK. 283 

bear in the money markets of the world so far as the 
securities advanced by it to these men were con- 
cerned. 

Nevertheless, and notwithstanding these unexpected 
impediments, they anticipated tlie contract time by 
seven years. It had been assumed by engineers and 
practical men that because of the great natural disad- 
vantages under which the Central Pacific Company 
would labor, that the Union Pacific Company, having 
the assistance of all the railroad facilities of the settled 
portions of the Union, and an overcharged labor mar- 
ket to draw upon, would be able to reach tlie eastern 
boundary of California before the Central Pacific 
people could possibly overcome the obstacles on their 
shorter line, and that the former company would be 
waiting for them at the California boundary' in July, 
1876, or later, should the time have to be extended, as 
was expected. The facts ai'e, that these giants had 
scaled the mountains, or dug away their peaks; had 
filled up the canyons; had covered in the road-bed for 
eighty miles with sheds which would withstand the 
crushing force of an avalanche of snow, and stood 
ready, with sledge-hammer and spike, at the promon- 
tory, eight hundred and sixt3'-one. miles farther than 
originally agreed upon, in May, 1SC9, completing the 
grand route seven years and two months sooner than 
v/as deemed possible by any railroad man or engineer- 
ing expert when the original contract was formulated 
by the Congress of the United States. 

Few readers have not heard the remark made, 
accompanied by a sneer, that any four reputable inisi- 
ness men could ha.ve accomplished the work in as 
thorough a manner as did Stanford, Huntington, 



S84 ■ CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOlC. 

Crocker and Hopkins. It is unfortunately true that 
there are large numbers of men so mentally constituted 
that they cannot commend what they lacked the 
ability to conceive. These might as truly declare that 
any reputable Jew could have led the Israelites out of 
Egypt. There was but one Moses, and his great 
ability as a leader did not rest in his name, but in the 
invincible power bestowed upon him by the Almighty. 
God never made a mistake in the selection of the 
instruments with which His ends were to be accom- 
plished. He selected the four — the five — and His 
guiding hand was never lifted from their shoulders for 
a single hour from the time soil was broken until 
Leland Stanford drove the last spike which united the 
uttermost ends of God's country, and gave civilization 
and prosperity an impetus which it had not before 
received since the fall of man. Shame upon the grum- 
blers. 

After the work had been completed and the example 
set which was soon followed by other combinations of 
men, General Sherman, so near the Golden shore that 
he could espy the "gates ajar," gave this testimony to 
the glorious results it had achieved in one single 
direction out of the many: 

"I now regard the Indians as substantially elimin- 
ated from the problem of the army. There may be 
spasmodic and temporary alarms ; but such wars as 
have heretofore disturbed the public peace and tran- 
quility are not probable. The army has been a large 
factor in producing this result ; but it has not been the 
only one. Immigration and the occupation by 
industrious farmers and miners of lands vacated by the 
aborigines have been largely instrumental to that end; 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 285 

but the railroad (the italics are the General's), which 
used to follow in the rear, now goes foward with the 
picket line in the great battle of civilization with bar- 
barism, and has become the greater cause. I have in 
former reports for the past fifteen years treated of this 
matter; and now, on the eve of withdrawing from 
active participation in public affairs, I beg to empha- 
size much which I have spoken and written heretofore. 
The recent completion of the last of the four great 
transcontinental lines of railway has settled forever 
the Indian question, the army question and many 
others which have hitherto troubled the country. I 
regard the building of these railways as the most 
important event of modern times, and believe that they 
account fully for the peace and good order which now 
prevail throughout our countrv, and for the extraor- 
dinary prosperity which now prevails in this land. A 
vast domain, equal to two-thirds of the whole 
surface of the United States, has thus been made 
accessible to the immigrant ; and, in a military sense, 
our troops may be assembled at strategic points and 
sent promptly to the places of disturbance, checking- 
disorders in the bud " 

Hon. Justice David Davis, of the United States 
Supreme Court, in delivering an opinion of that august 
body on the Pacific Railroads, places upon record these 
historical facts : 

" Many of the provisions in the original Act of 
1862 are outside of the usual course of legislative 
action concerning grants to railroads, and cannot be 
properly construed without reference to the circum- 
stances which existed when it was passed. The War 
of the Eebellion was in progress ; and, owing to com- 



286 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

plications with England, tlie country had become 
alarmed for the safety of our Pacillc possessions. 

" The enterprise was viewed as a national undertak- 
ing for a national purpose; and the public mind was 
directed to the end in view rather than to the particu- 
lar means for securing it. Although the road was a 
military necessity, there were other reasons active at 
the time in producing an opmion for its completion 
besides protection of an exposed frontier. There was a 
vast unpeopled territory lying between the Missouri 
and Sacramento rivers which was practically worthless 
without the facilities afforded by a railroad for the 
transportation of persons and property. With its con- 
struction the agricultural and mineral resources of this 
territory could be developed, settlements made where 
settlements were possible, and thereby the wealth and 
power of the United States largely increased ; and 
there was also a pressing want, in time of peace even, 
of an improved and cheaper method for the transporta- 
tion of the mails, and of supplies for the army and the 

Indians. 

" It was in presence of these facts that Congress 

undertook to deal with the subject of this railroad. 
The difficulties in the way of building it were great, 
and by many intelhgent persons considered insurmount- 
able. 

'^ The scheme for building a railroad two thousand 
miles in length, across mountains, over deserts, and 
through a country inhabited by Indians jealous of 
intrusion upon their rights, was universally regarded at 
the time as a bold and hazardous undertaking. It is 
nothing to the purpose that the apprehended difficulties 
in a great measure disappeared after trial, and that the 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. ^ 287 

road was constructed at less cost of time and money 
than had been considered possible. No argument can 
be drawn from the wisdom that comes after the fact. 

" The project of building this road was not con- 
ceived for private ends, and the prevalent opinion 
was that it could not be worked out by private 
capital alone. It was a national work, originating in 
national necessities, and requiring national assistance. 
The primary object of the Government was to advance 
its own interests; and it endeavored to engage individ- 
ual co-operation as a means to an end — the securing a 
road which could be used for its own purposes." 

Under an act of congress a railroad commission was 
appointed to investigate the condition of all the rail- 
roads in the United States which had received aid from 
the Government, and the truth of the charges made 
against them. It was composed of Eobert E, Patti- 
son, now governor of Pennsylvania, E. EUery Ander- 
son, of New York City, and David T. Littler, of Spring- 
field, Illinois. After the most thorough investigation, 
and after hearing the evidence of every one supposed 
to have knowledge of facts, this body of eminent men 
reported, as to adverse legislation: 

" It is of the opinion that these roads have been 
embarrassed by the frequency with which bills 
intended to effect them have bsen introduced into the 
legislatures of States and Territories through which 
they pass. Many of these bills contained provisions 
which, if adopted, would have been ruinous to the 
railroads. Very frequently the persons introducing 
such bills failed to realize the effect which their pass- 
age would produce. The constant threat of the 
adoption of such measures has been a source of embar- 



288 . CALIFORNIA COLD BOOK. 

rassment to all the bond-aided companies, and has 
forced them to protect themselves by frequent and 
constant attendance before committees of the legis- 
latures.*' 

And further, as to the Central Pacific Railroad 
Company : 

" Whatever amount there may be due to the Central 
Pacific Railroad Company, arising out of transporta- 
tion, or services rendered by the branch lines, or by 
the unaided portion of the road, ought to be promptly 
paid to that company. It appears from the evidence 
and the report of the commissioner of railroads, that 
the Central Pacific Railroad Company has discharged 
all the obligations arising out of the Acts of 1862, 
1864 and 1878, respecting the transportation applicable 
to the interest and bond account and applicable to 
the sinking-fund account, and also for the require- 
ment calling for additional payments to the sinking 
fund until the amount of such payments should equal 
twenty-five per cent of the net earnings. The United 
States has therefore no demand or el aim on account of 
lohicJi it Ciin justly retain any amount which is due 
from it to the Central Pacific Railroad Company ; and 
the amount so due ought to be paid and discharged 
without delay." 

The United States Commissioner of railroads sums 
up his conclusions in regard to the whole matter: 

"The purposes of Congress in granting the liberal 
aid extended to these companies were held to be im- 
portant elements in arriving at the true construction of 
their present relations to the Government. All these 
purposes have heen mucli more than realized', and it has 
been frequently and officially stated that the actual 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 289 

saving, year by year, to the Government greatly 
exceeds the whole annual interest paid." 

The whole grand prosperity of California, but 
faintly portrayed in the pages of tJiis history, and the 
remarkable g-rowth of the entire Pacific coast are evi- 
dences of the good which must be credited directly, 
and without limit, to the completion of the four great 
transcontinental lines — the Pacific sj'stem, Santa Fe, 
Northern Pacific and Canada Pacific lines. No one 
dares assert that the three latter lines would have been 
attempted had not the Pacific system projectors blazed 
the way, and proved its practicability and profit. 
Therefore, honorable men will not be slow to render 
unto " Caesar the things which are Caesar's," and place 
the honor where it justly belongs. Not an acre of the 
vast area beyond the Missouri, but can be reached and 
occupied without fear of the scalping knife, and with 
the assurance that the products of mdustrious hands 
can be marketed, and their full value realized. 

The great American people are most remarkable 
for devotion to principles of exact justice. To no 
other jurv ever empaneled can a fact or principle be 
submitted with such absolute certainty that a correct 
verdict will be rendered. To them the cause of the 
Pacific railroads should be given in all its details. 
Garbled statements by anarchist demagogues are 
deserving of no consideration. A contract was execu- 
ted between the projectors of the system and the 
people of the United States. The road was in 
successful operation seven years and two months 
sooner than the contract demanded, and at an expense 
to the contractors many millions of dollars greater 
than if the completion of the work had been extended 



290 CALIFORNIA COLD BOOK. 

to July, 1876, the hundredth anniversary of the greatest 
nation on tiie globe. No pen can detail what has been 
gained by the whole people. Ima^j,! nation becomes 
as confuse;! in attempting it as when trying to figure 
the extent of the illirailable space outside the atmos- 
phere of the earbli. But in 1SS5 figures were given 
showing what return the Pacific roads had made to 
the Government in cash values. With that balance 
sheet, for there is none later, this history submits the 
case to the impartial judgment of the great American 
people — a rigliteous jury. 

Bonds endorsed by the U. S. Government, % 27,855,680 
Amounts credited to the company for 
freight on supplies, munitions of 
war, carrying troops, mails, etc., - 20,963,313 

Amountsthatthe same service would have 
cost the Government at the rates paid 
before the completion of the road, 160,311,05-1 

Deduct amount credited to company, 20,963,313 



Saved to the United States treasury, $139,347,741 

Or state it thus: 
Saved to the Government, - ■ 139,347,741 

Entire amount due from compan}^ for 

unpaid bonds, accrued interest, etc- 86.661,834 

Actually due the company, - - $52,661,834 

And that would have been the state of the account 
had not this powerful and wealthy Government arbi 
trarily reduced the rates for the service it required to 
the terms which suited it, and without consulting the 
necessities or convenience of the Pacific companies. 

It is scarely possible that any one can read the fore- 
going record without arriving at a correct conclusion 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 391 

as to the vast importance to the whole country of the 
Pacific railroad system, and the honorable and con- 
scientious manner in which it was perfected. There 
is yet another fact which people who have settled along 
the main line and branches of the Pacific railroads do 
not fully appreciate. Without taking into considera- 
tion the almost insurmountable difficulties attending 
the building of the first road, and the vast and unusual 
expense, the charges on the road and branches are 
much less for fare and freight, comparatively, than 
anywhere else in the world. To arrive at correct data, 
the sparsely settled country must be considered. A 
few figures will more clearly show to what extent 
California people are favored, and how great should be 
their congratulation. Take the Chicago, Milwaukee 
& St. Paul ; Chicago & North-Western ; Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy, and the Chicago, Rock Island 
& Pacific railways. For the first 140 miles out of 
Chicago these roads run through almost a continuous 
farm or town, with a population averaging more than 
210 to the square mile. They are lined with productive 
manufactories. The fare is three cents a mile, or $4.20. 
The fare from San Francisco to Sacramento, 140 miles, 
is $3, or a little over two cents a mile, and the 
population averages 36 per square mile, less than one- 
sixth of that along either of the Illinois roads 
named, (to farther east. It is 90 miles between New 
York and Philadelphia, and the fare is $2.50, and the 
trains scarcely get out of sight of each other, and 
are alwavs crowded. From New York to Washinfjton 
City is 236 miles, and the road passes through Balti- 
more, Philadelphia and numerous other cities of large 
size and business. The fare is $6.50, First-class fare 



393 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

between Chicago and Council Bluffs is 2^ cents per 
mile; between Chicago and Pittsburg, 2f cents per mile; 
between Chicago and Buffalo, 2.59 cents per mile, and 
between Chicago and New York, 2 cents per mile. The • 
cost of fuel and other operating expenses are as much 
greater, proportionate!}^, on the Pacific road and 
branches as was the cost of building the first con- 
tinental road greater per mile than the construction of 
one of the Eastern lines. Until settlements are as 
thick through California as they are in Illinois or 
the JSTew England States, it will be unfair to expect the 
railroad service to compete with the prices charged on 
Eastern roads. Taking everN^thing into consideration 
the people on the Pacific coast, and in California 
especially, are obtaining railroad facilities, with all the 
term implies, cheaper than any other people in the 
world, and that without the help of competing lines. 

No railroads have been built in California which 
gave returns to their promoters from the start. The 
patriotic purpose of developing the country through 
which they passed was accomplished, and residents 
along the new lines reaped the advantage immediately. 
Two lines, which have built up wealthy settlements, 
ruined their projectors. The late Senator Milton G. 
Latham sunk an immensa fortune in building the road 
from picturesque Sausalito, through beautiful San 
Rafael, over and through mountains to Cazadero in 
Sonoma county, a distance of eighty-seven miles from 
San Francisco. His enterprise entitled him to the 
gratitude of every citizen in the State, excepting only 
the members of his own family. They were never 
able to get a return of any considerable part of the 
millions the road cost him. The tourist thanks his 



CAfJFOAW/A GOLD BOOK. 298 

memory ; for more beautiful scenery is not found in 
Europe, and tiie picnickers at Camp Taylor enjoy con- 
veniences of city and country, and gather health and 
enjoyment, because of his prodigality. And the im- 
provements which the road created, and the prosperous 
homes it established, have made it the paying property 
which Senator Latham predicted it would become, but 
which were not realized at the time of his death. 

The San Francisco and North Pacific railroad was 
projected by the late Peter Donahue, who seemed 
capable of making any investment which promised to 
build up the country and give employment to the idle. 
This road was built from Tiburon, across the bay from 
San Francisco, with the intention of reaching the grand 
red wood forests in Mendocino county. Before reaching 
that point Peter Donahue died, and long before the 
road became self-sustaining. Branches had been pro- 
jected, and expenses assumed which well-nigh im- 
poverished the estate of this several times millionaire. 
But the country was benefited, and every section it 
reached in Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino counties 
made prosperous. The road is now on a paying basis, 
but the fortune of Peter Donahue is buried under its 
roadbed. This has been the experience in regard to 
every branch built by the great transcontinental lines. 
At first the construction and operating expenses were 
so much dead capital, and so continued until the 
creative power of the railroad builded productive 
homes, and inaugurated enterprises which gave the 
company business. In time the projectors might hope 
for remuneration, unless death overtook them, as was 
the case with Senator Latham and Peter Donahue, 
before the tui'ning point was reached. 



S&4 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

CHAPTER XV. 

SKETCHES OF REMARKABLE MEN — WHAT THEY HAVE DONE. 

The readers of the California Gold Book will be 
interested in knowing something more of the men who 
have had such a remarkable influence upon the pro- 
gress of California, and whose every act has been so 
closely identified therewith. Tiieir connection with 
the inception of the great enterprises which have 
changed the wild valleys and foothills into happy 
homes has been given as fully as the limits of this 
work would permit, and very little need be added 
thereto. 



i^OLLIS P. HUNTINGTON, now president of the 
l^^ Southern Pacific Railroad Company, was born 
in Harwinton, Connecticut, October 22, 1821. His 
father was a wool manufacturer, and a prominent and 
successful citizen of that place. Of his characteristics 
it is unnecessary to speak. The law of heredity is fixed. 
Marked individual peculiarities are reproduced with un- 
mistakable distinctness. The lessons inculcated in his 
early home have governed the life actions of the son, and 
are impressed upon the growth and enterprise of the 
whole country. The\' are in a sliape to bo recognized in 
the coming time, by those who will have a share in their 
advantages, both in the Southern States from the city 
he has builded at Newport News on the Atlantic, 
through the vast territory to the large and prosperous 
communities on the Pacific ocean. 

When twenty-two years of age Mr. Huntington 
began mercantile business with au older brother at 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. ^!)?> 

Oneonta, New York. Tliat continued until 1849, 
when he removed to Cahfornia, and commenced busi- 
ness on the lame lines at Sacramento. An early babit 
was transferred to the Pacific coast, which, consider- 
ing the time and invariable customs prevailino-, shows 
the invincible will of the man in a remarkable manner. 
It is probable that his was the only place of business 
on the whole coast which did not open its doors to 
customers on the Sabbath. It was also the only one 
where every convenience was provided for the use of 
employes inside the walls of the place of business. 
There the}' were provided v*^ith better board than 
could be obtained at the eating houses of the bustling- 
frontier town, Reading matter was supplied them in 
abundance and variety, and their evenings could be 
pleasantly spent, and none of them need be subjected 
to the temptations of the gambling places and saloons 
which were never closed, day or night, on all the prom- 
inent streets. The cost to him of these conveniences 
were not reckoned by Mr. Huntington. Their effect 
upon the comfort and morals of all to whom he paid 
the extravagant prices then ruling, was his sufficient 
recompense. 

In 1855 the firm of Huntington, Hopkins & Com- 
pany was organized by the connection of Mark Hop- 
kins. It continued business on K street, Sacramento, 
and no change was made in the kind of goods handled 
or the rules governing its internal or external manage- 
ment. The credit of the firm was gilt-edged. It was 
here that the initial combinations were formed of 
which CoUis P. Huntington, Mark IIoj)kins, Charles 
Crocker, Leland Stanford and Theodore D. Judah, 
became onk in the greatest and most difficult railroad 



S96 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

enterprise of any age or country. The remarkable fact 
that these men maintained their individuality, and 
yet worked in absolute harmony, without clash, but on 
terms of the closest friendship and intimacy, until 
one by one the members of the close co-partnership 
are being released from their share of the work by 
death, is as unusual and wonderful as the unexampled 
success which has attended the efforts of the combina- 
tion. Neither in statecraft, in generalship, nor in 
fiancial matters, has this record a parallel. The more 
intimate and perfect the knowledge of these men 
became of each other, the more jwsitive and fixed 
became their mutual confidence and respect. 

In 1803 it became necessary that the Central Pacific 
Company should have an actual abiding place at the 
great money center in New York. It was not practical 
for all the members of the comjjany to remove there. 
Anyore of them would answer the purpose, for the 
plans and inspirations of all were identical. Collis P. 
Huntington was supplied with the power of attorney 
of the others, which was never changed or revoked, 
and became the living embodiment of the Central 
Pacific Company in the East, at the Federal Capital, 
and in Europe, clothed with full power to stake the 
financial and personal worth of every member upon the 
progress of the great undertaking. The efforts required 
of him were herculean, and cannot now be measured, 
because the splendid results have led men to the con- 
clusion that if the difficulties had been very great, the 
out-side limit permitted by the Government contract 
would have been expended in completing the work, 
instead of being anticipated by more than seven years. 

Now, if the principles of exact equity be applied m 



•CALIFORNIA GO ID BOOK. 397 

forming judgment of Collis P. Huntington, his success 
in life must necessarily distinguish him as great, for no 
man can do more than right. While his successes may be 
ever so unprecedented, and his accumulations fabulous, 
he has never invaded a right, or weakened the oppor- 
tunity of a human being. He has simply showed the 
possibilities open to all men, and the energy required 
to make a struggling world better by means of the 
untiring efforts of one man. 

It is not within the scope of this work to detail what 
Collis P. Huntington has done for eastern Virginia. 
This entire work is replete with facts as to what he and 
his associates have accomplished for California and the 
Pacific coast. Knowing that great tracts of land 
under the ownership of one man deprive numbers of 
men of moderate fortunes from obtaining homes, he 
has lately obtained possession of a large tract of 
fertile land in the Sacramento valley, and under his 
instructions this is to be divided into small farms, and 
sold to immigrants. An exact account is to be kept of 
all expenses attendmg the work, and when all is sold, 
any profit which has attended the transaction will be 
returned to the happy purchasers, pro rata to the 
amounts they paid for their farms. This is an experi- 
ment, and if it succeeds, there is no doubt but other 
public-spirited land-owners will follow his example, and 
the great State of California will be the principal 
gainer, though every one of the numbers so fortunately 
located will have reason to bless Collis P. Huntington. 



ARK HOPKINS.— The late Mark Hopkins 
was chosen treasurer of the Central Pacific 
Railroad Company at its organization, and retained 



298 CALIFOKNIA GOLD BOOK. 

the place until his death. He was the oldest member 
of the powerful organization, having been born at 
Henderson, New York, September 1st, 1813. When 
he was twelve years old his father removed to St. Clair, 
Michigan, and tlied there soon after. 

Young Hopkins determined on a mercantile career, 
and at the age of IG found employment with a firm 
doing business in Niagara county, New York, As it 
was only a small country store, his ail vantages were 
not first class ; but as it kept a genei-al assortment of 
goods, he became acquainted with the average wants 
of a community, and early learned to wisely seknt 
such a stock of goods as would likely be in demand. 
From this situation he graduated as senior member of 
the firm of Hopkins ^ Hughes, doing business at 
Lockport, New York. 

Mark Hopkins was ambitious for intellectual improve- 
ment. He had a brother practicing law at Lockport, 
and he commenced the study of that })rofession with 
him while he was engaged in merchandising. It was 
not his intention to change his business, but the study 
of the law was undertaken solely for the benefit of the 
training it would afford. 

In 1849 Mr. Hopkins determined to remove to 
California, and arrived there August 5th of that year. 
Soon after he opened a store at Placerville, and 
freighted his own goods from Sacramento to that point 
by ox team. The following year he formed a partner- 
ship with E. V. Miller, and a wholesale grocery was 
established. The business was prosperous, and was con- 
tinued uutil his partnersiiip with C. P. Huntington in 
1855, The firm of Huntington, Hopkins ^'c Company 
dealt mainly in hardware and miner's supplies, and early 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 099 

established an extensive branch at San Francisco. 
His connection with tliis tirm was continued until his 
death in March, 1S76. He left a great estate, and all 
of it was o'iven to his widow absolutely, to do with as 
seemed to her best. The grand home he built for him- 
self on California street has finally passed into the 
possession of the University of California to be used 
as an art studio, and for the dispUi}"^ of the work 
of artists. 



HARLES CROCKER.— The late Charles Crocker 
was a manly man, who was the aichitect of his 
own fortunes. His native place was Troy, New York, 
where he was born on the lOth of September, 1822. 
At ten years of age he began to earn money, and it 
was put to the best imaginable use — aided his father 
in paying for a farm in the State of Luliana, to which 
the family moved in 183(5. For two years this manly 
boy assisted his father in clearing the land and prepar- 
ing it for a crop. Then he found employment for a 
time in a saw-mill. Later he got work at a forge, and 
here he was paid $11 per month with board, and the 
privilege of attending the district school in winter, and 
upon this last he placed the highest possible estimate, 
and of it made the very best use. Young Crocker 
became thoroughly proficient at the business, and 
before long had a shop of his own, and made money. 
In 1850 Mr. Crocker crossed the plains, and began 
merchandising in Sacramento. At first the customers 
were almost exclusively miners, and the stock was such 
as these would require. When Sacramento began to 
have numbers of society people, and there were calls 



300 CALJFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

for ladies' dress goods, he added a supply of dry goods. 
In 1S60 Mr. Crocker was elected to the legislature on 
the republican ticket, and helped materially to create 
and encourage the loyal sentiment Avhich was all 
needed in the affairs of California a year later. His 
privilege of taking a decided stand for the Union in 
that body at that time was one to which he ever 
referred with pride. 

In 1862 Mr. Crocker disposed of his business, so as 
to give his whole time to the interests of the Central 
Pacific Railroad Company, in the organization of which 
he had taken such a prominent part only a year before. 
He had then given up everything in this same interest, 
and now he devoted every energy to the enterprise. 
He was the mechanic of the quartette, and his old pro- 
ficiency in handling iron became specially valuable 
now^. His efforts were so closely interwoven with that 
of his associates that to tell what they accomplished is 
to tell what Charles Crocker did to further the interests 
of the road. No one of this company has ever been 
known to claim any credit distinct and apart from that 
due the others. The members of the company were one. 

In 1852 Charles Crocker married Miss Mary A. 
Deming, of Sacramento. The union was a happy 
one. Mrs. Crocker became interested in many of the 
benevolent operations in San Francisco, as she had 
previously been in Sacramento, Indeed, it may be 
said that she is a leader in many of the plans arranged 
for improving the condition of the people. She had 
the co-operation of her husband up to the time of his 
death, which occurred August 14, 1888, and a place 
became vacant which it will be hard to fill. The grand 
qualities which made Charles Crocker an efficient aid to 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 301 

his father when only ten years old, made him a 
generous friend, and a reliable aid under any and all 
circumstances. He left a name for great liberality, 
and numbers of men, to whom the world had proved 
unkind, are in places which his thoughtfulness secured 
for them, and enjoying the comforts of life, which 
they owe to him. 



LEAN NELSON TOWNE is now vice-president 
'^>^ and general manager of the Southern Pacific 
Kailroad Compan}^ His first ■ position in connection 
with the Pacific Kailroad system was that of superin- 
tendent of the Central Pacific Company, and that 
was tendered him without sohcitation, and at a salary 
named by himself. From various causes Mr. Towne 
has been more en rapport with the clientele of the 
Pacific roads than any other official of the companies, 
and he holds the esteem and good will of all of therti. 
He is worthy of the good feeling had toward him, and 
is considerably more than a remarkable man with 
remarkable antecedents. On March 25, 1G20, William 
Towne married Joana Blessing. In 1040 they were 
residents of Salem, Mass. From that on down to 
May 26, 1829, on which date A. N. Towne was born, 
the people of that family name were among the most 
actively prominent in that part of Massachusetts. 
His birth place was in Worcester county, in that State. 
His grandparents, on both sides of his family, were 
distinguished participants in the Revolutionary war, 
and in all the trying times contiguous thereto. The 
noble characteristics of his mother are reproduced in 
himself. He married Miss Caroline Amelia Mansfield 



302 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

before starting west on a merchandising tour. He had 
tried carpentering, house painting and merchandising 
while in the East, succeeding best with the latter 
business; but he had not yet found the occupation 
for which he was exactly adapted. In 1855 he was at 
Galesburg, Ills., and could not consider the results of his 
merchandising trip as anywhere approaching a success. 
He asked for a place as freight conductor on the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy road, and got it. The tide which 
fioats a man to fortune had found him, and he was 
astride of it. Eailroading then was different to the 
business now. The person ambitious to obtain a 
position of prominence had to know all there was to be 
learned. It was as necessary that he should be able 
to successfuU}'^ doctor a hot-box as collect a fare. 
He realized this and became thoroughly familiar with 
every detail of every department that came within 
his ken. He went through the official gradations on 
express schedule time with no stops. Within a year 
from the time he became freight conductor he was 
train master, and in a brief time he was assistant 
superintendent. After eleven years' service with this 
road he became supermtendent of the Chicago & Great 
Eastern Company. His ability to select and handh 
men was Napoleonic. He made no mistakes. 11 1> 
subordinates had confidence in his master mind, and 
obeyed orders without asking what the orders raeani. 
He was a wonderful success — a grand master in hia 
profession. 

These great qualities were observed by the manageis 
of other lines. They were exactly the dcsideiaiuui m 
the make up of most roads in the country. They were 
the qualities whose possession meant dividends to the 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 303 

stockholders, and the presidents of other roads began 
to covet the services of this man. The first company 
to make a bid for his services ^yas tiie Union Pacific 
Company. It baited its hoolv with the general superin- 
tendency, carrying a fair salary and ahnost unlimited 
power. It was scarcely a temptation to leave the 
emplo}^ to which he had been so long and agreeably 
attached. Then came Mr. Huntington, and his first 
bids were rejected. The great railroad authority 
tired of that ; said he : "Consult the officers of your 
company, and telegraph me what salary will induce 
you to take the superintendency of the Central Pacific 
Company." Mr. Towne did so, naming a sum more 
than twice and a half more than he was then receiving. 
Promptly he had a telegram : " Come on. Collis P. 
Huntington." That added A. ]^[. Towne to the effec- 
tive force of the Pacific liailroad system, which is now 
superior in executive ability and energetic force to any 
railroad combination in the world, and for that one 
reason is the target for the malevolent and leveling 
tendencies of the anarchist classes, and many others 
who would spurn the intimation that they were doing 
the work of these enemies of order. 

But it is not alone in the management of a power- 
ful railroad that Mr. Towne is great. In the last few 
years, when the irresponsible agitators have influenced 
Congress to enter upon long and laborious investiga- 
tion of the methods of business pursued by the Govern- 
ment-aided companies, Mr. Towne has frequently been 
before the Commissions appointed by Congress. The 
information he has supplied has been clear and con- 
clusive, and supported by irrefutable facts and figures, 
which greatly lessened the work of these bodies. It 



304 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

is greatly to be regretted that the papers prepared by 
Mr. Towne have not been placed before the same 
readers who had been deluged with newspaper com- 
plaints against the aided roads, and charges, reaching 
from simple misdemeanors to public robbery gigantic 
in character. These papers of Mr. Towne would have 
liad the same effect upon the public which they pro- 
duced upon the investigating bodies, and would have 
given intelligent readers new and valuable ideas in 
regard to the relative duties and obligations of cor- 
porations and the people. The}^ stamp Mr. Towne as 
a conservative statesman of superior ability, and deserve 
an audience much greater than they can ever obtain as 
parts of the reports of Congressional Commissions, 
The clear and masterly statements prepared by Mr. 
Towne should be placed before the public in popular 
form. They would prove great educators, and woukl 
remove troublesome doubts as to the manner in which 
all the aided companies have complied with their obliga- 
tions to the people. The American people can be 
depended upon to decide justly any question properly 
placed before them, and these papers would put them 
in possession of important facts, of which, unfortu- 
nately, they are now in complete ignorance. 



ENATOR LELAND STANFORD.— At no time 
in the history of the world, and nowhere out- 
side of California, have such vast accumulations of 
money by individuals been devoted to the regeneration 
and improvement of mankind as in California, by 
Californians by adoption. Foremost among these is 
Leland Stanford and his devoted helpmate. Others 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 305 

have dealt generously with their fellows, giving a fair 
percentage of the sums entrusted to their keeping for 
the enlightenment of the world. Senator and Mrs. 
Stanford have devoted practically all of their great 
possessions to the uses of those of their own and suc- 
ceeding generations down to the end of time. 

A brief review of the career of Senator Stanford 
serves to emphasize the assertion in one of the opening 
chapters that the All-wise Eternal had directed every 
event in the history of this land, and had been the ever 
present "cloud by day and pillar of fire by night," 
inspiring every act of prominent individuals for the 
benefit of the race. The results prove this as unerringly 
as though He had declared " for this purpose have I 
raised thee up." 

It is decidedly commonplace to say that Leland 
Stanford was born at Albany, New York, March 9, 
1824, and that after a creditable youth, spent exactly 
as his other youthful associates spent theirs, divided 
between work in summer and th-e district school in 
winter, he finally determined on adopting the profes- 
sion of law, and at twenty began reading law with 
Messrs. Wheaton, Doolittle & Hadley. Two years 
diligently devoted to study enabled him to pass an 
examination and receive authority to appear before 
courts in the interest of clien-ts. Then he went west, 
and opened an office at Port "Washington, Wisconsin, 
where, when he deemed himself so well established as 
to render taking to himself a wife, a matter of prudence 
and justice to the woman who was to be one with him 
until death, he returned to Albany and married Miss 
Jans Lathrop, the daughter of Dyer Lathrop, a suc- 
cessful merchant, and citizen of standing. Together they 



306 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

returned to Wisconsin, and no doubt with the hope 
and expectation that there their hves would be passed. 
Here he met with his first important mishap, and at 
the time one that appeared most disastrous and dis- 
heartening. A fire destroyed his Hbrary and nearl}^ 
every vahiable he possessed. With the light we now 
possess, we unhesitatingly declare this apparent mis- 
fortune to have emanated from a merciful and all-see- 
ing God, and to have been the means of severing his 
connection with Wisconsin interests, in pursuance of 
the grandest purposes. 

Previous to that time one of the brothers of Leland 
Stanford had been drawn to California by the discovery 
of gold, and was selling merchandise and other supplies 
to the miners and doing more or less prospecting and 
mining. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Stanford cared to 
return to Albany whence they had lately gone with 
such brillant anticipations. They determined to come 
to California, of which the brother could not do other- 
wise than paint in glowing colors. They arrived here 
July 12, 1852, and Leland Stanford engaged earnestly 
with them in mining and mercantile ventures. After 
four years, mostly spent at Michigan Bluff, Placer 
county, in 1856 he removed to Sacramento and became 
a partner in the extensive business which the brothers 
Stanford had built up, and which extended to every 
part of the State. 

In 1860 Mr. Stanford was sent as a delegate to the 
Chicago convention. Noth withstanding the great 
regard every native New Yorker was supposed to have 
for Mr. Seward, Mr. Stanford earnestly espoused the 
cause of Abraham Lincoln, and a friendship was then 
formed between the two, founded on mutual regard, 



CALIFORNIA COLD BOOK. 307 

which continued unabated until the death of Mr. 
Lincoln. From the first intimation of trouble between 
the North and South, Mr. Stanford was a pronounced 
Union man, and was not slow to declare his reasons 
for the faith that was in him. The South had sympa- 
thizers in California, far more noisy than numerous, and 
yet sufficient in numbers to give the friends of the 
Union cause for uneasiness. Against his personal 
wishes Mr. Stanford was nominated for governor in 
1861, and at considerable sacrifice accepted the nomina- 
tion and thoroughly canvassed the State. He was 
elected by a plurality of 23,000 votes, which was very 
unexpected success under the difficulties attending 
affairs. His administration was marked by a clear 
exposition of patriotic principles, and all his state 
papers were characterized by an intimate comprehension 
of State and National questions, and when he retired 
from office the loyalty of California was second to no 
State in the Union. He was urged to accept a second 
term, but that was not in accord with the plans of the 
Great Ruler. The great transcontinental line which he 
had been inspired to commence, and the first shovelful of 
dirt on which he had thrown out February 22, 1861, 
nearly a year prior to entering upon his duties as 
governor, demanded his personal attention and super- 
vision. For the time he peremptorally declined 
political position. 

In 1887 Leland Stanford was elected United States 
Senator, and in 1891 was chosen to succeed himself. 
His course in the Senate has met with the approval of 
the general public, excepting only in the proposition to 
loan public money on reliable securities, to needy 
farmers and others, at low rates of interest. This 



308 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

measure has been harshly criticized, and especially by 
the large and influential class of money-lenders, who 
see their own loss in the success of such an innovation. 
It has been usual to leave a considerable portion of the 
surplus belonging to the country in the possession of 
banks without interest. Of course these favored 
institutions seriously object to any reform which would 
deprive their stockholders of the free use of millions of 
Government money. A rapidly growing minority of 
the people of the country heartily endorse the proposi- 
tion of Senator Stanford, and there seems to be little 
doubt that, when properly understood, the measu-re, 
somewhat modified, will receive the earnest approval of 
a large majority of voters outside the influence of 
banks and money-lenders. 

The great wealth of Senator and Mrs. Stanford has 
enabled them to show whether they considered it 
bestowed for their personal aggrandizement, or as a 
sacred trust to be used for the improvement of their 
race. It is a fact well known in California that both 
of these broad-minded people have been very liberal to 
all charitable objects without regard to creed. The 
only question asked by them was as to whether the 
money they were ready to give would be expended for 
the relief of the distressed, and the improvement of 
iheir fellow citizens. 

A few years ago the world was astounded by the 
lumor that Senator and Mrs. Stanford had determined 
Lo devote many of the millions they possessed to the 
erection and endowment of an educational institution 
superior to anything of the kind in the world, and that 
this grand benefaction was in accord with the expressed 
desires and intentions of a deceased son who would have 



CAL/POkMA GOLD BOOK. 309 

inherited all their vast accumulations if he had lived. 
The world is nearly six thousand years old, and during 
that time many devotedly cherished children have 
preceded their parents to the golden shore, but this is 
the first instance where the bereaved have been 
inspired to carry out expressed wishes with such 
munificence, and to rear a monument to the loved and 
lost as much grander and more enduring than marble 
as the love of God is tenderer and more true than that 
of any human. It was beyond human belief to accept 
the rumor as true, and yet the reality proved the first 
rumor but half the truth. The sum in cash and lands, 
the value of the latter of which was continually enhanc- 
ing, devoted to the endowment of the Leland Stanford 
Junior University, on a conservative appraisement, 
amounted to twenty millions of dollars. 

Having determined upon the consummation of this 
mighty benefaction, shortly after the death of his 
son, Senator Stanford actively set about the under- 
taking. The laws of the State in regard to the pro- 
tection of the endowments of institutions of learning- 
were rather lax, and to remedy this in 1885 the Sena- 
tor draughted and secured the passage through the 
legislature of an enactment placing further safeguards 
about the administration of the finances of all such 
institutions, and making some changes in the form and 
method of incorporation. Having thus completed the 
preliminary steps, he proceeded at once to the con- 
summation of his plans. The selection of trustees 
was a delicate and difiicult matter, but being an acute 
judge of human character, and having a thorough 
acquaintance with and knowledge of all the prominent 
men of the da}'. Senator Stanford was able to unerr- 



310 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

ingly choose those who are the right men in the right 
place. The gentlemen to till the important position 
were : Lorenzo Sawyer, one of the presiding judges 
of the United States Circuit Court, San Francisco (since 
deceased); James McM. Shafter, San Francisco, lawyer, 
formerly State senator, and ex-president of the State 
Agricultural Societ}'^ ; Charles Goodall, San Francisco, 
of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, formerly a 
representative of San Francisco in the legislature ; 
Alfred L, Tubbs, merchant, St. Helena, Napa county, 
formerly senator from San Francisco ; Charles F 
Crocker, San Francisco, vice-president of the Southern 
Pacific Railroad Company ; Timothy Hopkins, San 
Francisco, treasurer of the Southern Pacific Railroad 
Compan}' ; Henry L. Dodge, San Francisco, merchant, 
formerly a State senator from San Francisco and ex- 
superintendent of the mint ; Irving M. Scott, San Fran- 
cisco, of the Union Iron Works ; Dr. H. W. Hark- 
ness, San Francisco, of the San Francisco Academy of 
Science ; Horace Davis, merchant, San Francisco, ex- 
member of Congress from San Francisco ; John Boggs, 
farmer, Colusa, formerly State senator from Colusa, a 
director of the State Agricultural Society and of the 
Board of Prison Directors of the State ; Hon. T. B. 
McFarland, Sacramento, formerly in the legislature 
of the State from Nevada county, and an ex-judge of 
the Superior Court of Sacramento ; Isaac S. Belcher, 
Marysville, formerly of the Superior Bench of Califor- 
nia ; John Q. Brown, Sacramento, ex-mayor of Sacra- 
mento ; George E. Gray, San Francisco, ex-chief 
engineer of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company ; 
N. W. Spaulding, Oakland, manufacturer and ex- 
United States sub-treasurer, and grand treasur<5r of the 



CALIhORNIA GOLD BOOK. 311 

Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Califor- 
nia ; Matthew P. Deady, Portland, Oregon, presiding 
judge of the United States Circuit Court of Oregon ; 
William M. Stewart, Virginia City, Nevada, ex-United 
State senator from Washington, Nevada ; Stephen 
J. Field, Washington, D. C, justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States ; Joseph D. Grant, Esq., 
of San Francisco ; S. F. Lieb, a prominent lawyer of 
San Jose, and Rev. Horatio Stebbins, D. D., of San 
Francisco. 

Shortly after the announcement of the names of 
the trustees, they were summoned to the resi- 
dence of Senator Stanford, and there was delivered 
to them the grant, executed by Senator and Mrs. 
Stanford, which endowed with millions an institution 
which was to bear the name of their lamented 
son. On the delivery of the important document. 
Senator Stanford, in a short speech, briefly stated the 
objects at which he aimed. Simply and beautifully he 
told of the origmation of the grand project, and the 
hopes which his wife and himself had centered in its 
consummation. The proceedings lasted but little over 
an hour, and neither Senator nor Mrs. Stanford 
betrayed the least consciousness that they considered 
the act other than one of simple duty, which they 
owed to the country of their birth. The matter of 
giving away millions was so unostentatiously per- 
formed that none present could help but marvel. It 
showed the high character of the donors and the lofty 
fiims which animated them. Vast as the gift was, the 
Senator intimated that it was not all they intended to 
do. He stated that the wills of both himself and wife 
had been made but shortly previous, and at their 



S12 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

death the University would receive additional bequests 
and benefits. 

The grant states that the aim of the founders is to 
establish a University in the broadest sense of the 
word. It shall include such seminaries of learning as 
shall make it of the highest grade, including mechan- 
ical institutes, museums, galleries of art, laboratories, 
conservatories, together with everything necessary to 
the proper understanding of agriculture in all its 
branches, for mechanical training, and the studies and 
exercises which tend immediately to the enlargement 
and cultivation of the mind. Its object is stated with 
a simplicity and force which allows of no misunder- 
standing and shows the wisdom of the founders: " To 
qualify students for personal success and direct use- 
fulness in life." 

Its purpose is also stated in a similar succinct manner: 
"To promote the public welfare by exercising an 
influence in behalf of humanity and civilization, teach- 
ing the blessings of liberty regulated by law, and 
inculcating love and reverence for the great principles 
of government as derived from the inalienable right of 
man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'' 

To those who have felt the shadow of a great sor- 
row, the language in which is couched the clause naming 
the University has a touch of pathos. It reads : " Since 
the idea of establishing an institution of this kind for 
the benefit of mankind came directly and largely from 
our son and only child, Leland, and in the behalf that 
had he been spared to advise us as to the disposition 
of our estate, he would have desired the devotion of a 
large portion thereof to this purpose, we will that for 
all time to come the institution herebv founded shall 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 313 

bear his name, and shall be known as " The Leland 
Stanford Junior University." 

The plan of the founders of this wonderful benefac- 
tion to California children, and through them to all the 
aspiring youth of other lands down to the end of time, 
has been clearly stated by Senator Stanford 

" The future of the State of California will equal in 
its greatness the capacity of the human intelligence for 
expansion. Nowhere are the conditions of life happier • 
and better, no place on the globe contains so fully the 
resources necessary for the physical and intellectual 
improvement of mankind. 

" The faculty for advantageously using the resources 
of nature, which is only bounded by the almost illimit- 
able range of human conception, is all that is needed 
to place this state in the position it is possible for her 
to occupy — the land of the highest development of 
human comfort and intellectuality. 

" To advance that time was my object in founding 
the institution at Palo Alto which bears the name of 
my son. I was satisfied when I provided for this insti- 
tution that all education tends to the physical as well 
as the intellectual advancement, and what man does 
for education he does for civilization. Any education 
does this, but I hope to have more from my institution. 
I want to improve the methods of education. 

"I was struck by a remark that Professor Agassiz made 
to me when he was here and examined the great glacier. 
I asked him if he thought it would ever be accounted 
for. He answered that it would. He said that when 
the system of education was so much improved that the 
knowledge of the mineralogist, the geologist, the pale- 
ontologist and the astronomer were combined in one 
person the theory would be understood. 



814 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

"We had quite a lengthy discussion about education 
that impressed me very much, and when I recall that 
the source of supply from which it all came would not 
be materially affected — that is, the mines and fields 
and cultivation of the soils that give us these things 
would not be appreciably lessened. I have great faith 
in man's power to perfect his control of the forces that 
surround him. 

" Already the discovery of the power of steam and 
the way to control it, has added immensely to the 
power of production, though nearly all the labor- 
saving inventions have been brought into use during 
the present century. How immeasurably this power 
of production has been increased in the last fifty years 
is beyond conception. 

"It was centuries before "Watt noticed the throb- 
bing of the boiling water in the tea-kettle, and gave 
us one of the natural forces that we have controlled to 
a limited extent. So with the element of electricity — 
to what extent we can control it can not be told, but 
we have reason to hope for great things from this 
great power. With this increase of the power of pro- 
duction the time will come when provident and indus- 
trious men may have all the comforts and luxuries that 
are now only within reach of the rich. Labor, properly 
distributed and aided, will do even more for the intel- 
lectual requirements of man than for his physical needs. 
Physical needs are small in comparison to the intellect 
ual requirements, for, while the former are limited, the 
latter are capable of indefinite expansion. Our capacitv 
for intellectual pleasures increases with our enjoyment 
of them. It is not so with the physical. A man's 
mind can never be filled to repletion, nor his appetite 
for beauty and art satisfied. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 315 

"In view of these things I wish m}'^ school more 
especially directed to the investigation and teaching of 
how to control the forces of nature — how to make the 
elements the servants of man — from the kindergarten 
pupils to the post-graduate pupils who may have a 
desire for deeper investigations. 

" My aim is to make the education very general in 
character ; and, particularly, I want the students to 
understand that labor is respectable and that idleness 
is disreputable. We propose to fit the student, so far 
as practicable, for his after life, and not to confine our 
course to literature and art. 

" I deem it especially important that the education 
of the female should be equal to that of the male, and 
I am inclined to think that if tlie education of either 
is neglected it had better be that of the man than the 
woman, because if the mother is well educated she 
insensibly imparts_it to the child. I remember that Bain, 
in his Elements of Criticism, says that a child in the 
first seven years of its life has more new ideas than in all 
his after life. Voltaire says, I think: ' If you give me 
the education of the child up to five 3^ ears I do not care 
who educates him after that.' The mother's system of 
teaching is substantially the kindergarten system. 
This is the opinion of Professor Agassiz. 

"My own son never went to any school except the 
kindergarten. On one occasion he came home de- 
lighted with something that had opened his mind, and 
wanted to tell me about it. His teacher recjuii'ed all 
the children to bring some natural object to school as 
a subject for a small talk. My son had taken a pebble 
to the school. His teacher looked at it, and noted that 
it was round. Sue explained that that indicated that 



316 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOO It. 

it had probably been rolled back and forth on a beach, 
for if it had been in a running stream other stones 
passing over it would have flattened it. Then she dis- 
covered that it was sandstone, and she told him all 
about the formation of the rocks. Then she saw a 
scratch on it, and explained how that might have come 
— maybe from a stone passing over it or perhaps from 
a glacier. This opened the way for a talk about 
s:laciers which unfolded to his mind the truths of nature, 
and so interested him that 1 am satisfied in his short 
life this episode of his kindergarten training turned his 
mind in the direction of inquiries, the answers to which 
were an education in themselves. I became much 
impressed with this incident, and in following out the 
course of education that impressed him so deeply I 
hope for great things. 

* The current publications are really the great edu- 
cators, because they preserve and disseminate ideas 
wherever people can read, and do much in raising the 
standard of intelligence among the people, thus 
enabling the many to appreciate and take advantage of 
the genius of the few. 

" It is a lack of education alone that makes the great 
mass of the European peasantry so slow in adopting 
the modern improvements. They do not use machinery 
because they are neither aware of its existence nor 
able to appreciate the advantages of its use. One can- 
not fail to remark even the great superiority of hand- 
tools in America over those in use abroad. The great- 
est extravagance in Europe — greater than that of their 
large standing armies — is in the waste of labor, using 
their hands and poor tools instead of machinery and 
fine tools. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 317 

" So I ■want these schools to provide an education to 
make the people, so far as possible, able to secure the 
fullest amount of comfort and luxury from the natural 
resources that are at their disposal. I want to teach 
the people how to make their living, and satisfy their 
physical longings, that they may have the largest pos- 
sible amount of time and means for the enjoyment of 
intellectual pleasures. 

"The possibilities of human enjoyment are as bound- 
less as the beneficence of the Creator, and the Creator 
could not have placed His great gifts beyond us, for 
there is no beneficence in the existence of the unattain- 
able. That being the case, and I think the proposition 
does not admit of doubt, it becomes the duty of those 
having the means in their power, to teach the people 
how best to attain all the good possible in this life. 

" Because that has not been the case in Europe for 
want of education, there was no progress made there 
up to the present century. They were cutting grain 
with a hand sickle when the genius of McCormick 
enabled us to cut, bind, thresh and sack grain by 
machinery at a cost of one cent per 100 pounds. 

" It will be our aim in the College to give practical 
education; to cultivate manual dexterity; to open the 
range of inquiry and make the scholar rely on his own 
resources. I have already fitted up some machine 
shops, and hope that the College will in some measure 
fill the gap opened in our system of industry by the 
diflBculty that besets a boy who wishes to learn a 
mechanical art. Still that is not, by any means, the 
extent of our aims. I want to teach the benefits and 
resources of labor, to show him who has to work how to 
toil,that he may easiest earn his needed rest and recrea- 



318 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

tion. I want to unfold the possibilities of enjoyment and 
show every industrious and provident man how he may 
secure them without the expenditure of more physical 
effort than is necessary for his health. There will always 
be some inequality; some men will be indolent, and 
to that extent will the burdens of the provident and 
industrious be increased, but even the added burden of 
the idle and vicious should not demand from the 
industrious more labor than is compatible with the 
highest intellectual enjoj'ment. 

" "With the increase of facilities for controlling the 
forces of nature, the bitter competition for wealth 
will be lessened. Poverty and want having been the 
rule instead of the exception in the past, men struggle 
and hoard ; if all were assured of a comfortable livino-, 
and a sure competence for old age, they would spend 
more freely, taking more enjoyment and fight less 
fiercely for wealth. Not that I deprecate industry 
and providence, for it is the duty of man to earn and 
save for his family and himself ; but I hope for the 
day when labor and thrift will no longer interfere with 
intellectual development and the enjoyment of social 
pleasures. Man's actual needs are slight ; his intellect- 
ual boundless. Professor Agassiz would be satisfied 
with twenty-five cents' worth of food a day, but he 
needs steamboats to help him read the story told by 
the bed of the ocean, instruments to solve the riddle of 
the stars and glaciers, and unnumbered hands to delve 
amid the buried learning of the past. When he has 
mastered his study it belongs to the whole world, and 
with a proper system of education is at the command 
of every one. 

'' Co-operation is the chief hand-maid of civilization. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 319 

One man may develop a love of works of art beyond 
the greatest wealth of men to satisfy, but a community 
can spare the money to purchase the things that will 
give pleasure to all. San Francisco ought to have 
magnificent libraries, lovely parks, fine collections of 
])ictures, splendid works of art and the means for every 
intellectual pleasure paid for from the public purse, 
and open for the enjoyment of everyone. Co-operation 
will bring about such social equality that no industrious 
man will feel himself one whit the social inferior of 
any man that lives, and will have no feeling but pity 
for the parvenu who, doubtful of his own position, 
fears to weaken it by association with those who have 
less wealth than himself." 

At the opening of the University, Senator Stanford 
reiterated and emphasized the wishes of himself and 
Mrs. Stanford, as follows: " It is through education 
that the possible future of man is to be ascertained and 
attained. The Creator has not given man rational wants 
without the means of supplying them. He has given 
us an all-bountiful earth that yields inexhaustible sup- 
plies for our use. Men have only to supply their labor 
intelligently, and learn to control the natural forces that 
surround them, to have at their command all the com- 
forts and elegances of life. Man's true happiness is to be 
attained, not merely by satisfying his physical wants, 
but in the development of his intellectual, moral and 
religious nature. It is through the expansion and 
development of these that the high standard which the 
Creator has made possible is to be reached, and when 
this standard is attained the result will be the establish- 
ment and general practice of the golden rule and the 
realization of the greatest happiness. I hope, therefore, 



320 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

that you will ever keep before you the highest possible 
standard, that you will strive to attain it, and fully 
realize that its attainment is the object of educa- 
tion. 

" The high condition of civilization to which man 
may attain in the future it is almost impossible for us to 
now appreciate. We can best obtain an idea of it by a 
comparison of our present condition with that of pre- 
ceding generations. Nor have we to look very far 
back. A few years ago, within the memory of a major- 
ity of the adults here present — in these United States, 
whose very existence as a nation was justified by an 
inspired declaration of human inalienable rights — over 
four millions of human beings were held in slavery by 
mere might. A majority of the people of our country 
were at the time fully persuaded that the right to 
ownership of human beings existed by a law which it 
was bound to sustain by force if necessary. 

" We believe that a wise system of education will 
develope a future civilization as much in advance of 
that of the present as ours is in advance of the condi- 
tion of the savage. We may always advance toward 
the infinite. 

"The wonderful improvements in inventions and 
machinery within the last fifty years, by multiplying 
the powers of production, have assisted greatly in the 
advancement of civilization. But for the invention 
that had done the most for education we must look 
back 450 years to the gigantic and ever increasing 
force put in motion by Guttenberg — the printing press. 
It has made all later inventions possible and practical. 
It has (hme more for the dissemination of education 
than the endowments of Harvard, Johns Hopkins 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK 331 

or Girard, and but for its existence I do not think I 
should have occasion to address you to-day. 

" Once the great struggle of labor was to supply the 
necessities of life, now but a small portion of our 
people are so engaged. Food, clothing and shelter are 
common in our country to every provident person, 
excepting, of ' course, in occasional accidental cases. 
The great demand for labor is to supply what may be 
termed intellectual wants to which there is no limit, 
except that of intelligence lo conceive. If all the 
relations and obligations of men were properly under- 
stood it would not be necessar}^ for people to make a 
burden of labor. The great masses of the toilers now 
are compelled to perform such an amount of labor as 
makes life often wearisome. An intelligent system of 
education would correct this inequality. It would 
make the humblest laborers work more valuable ; it 
would increase both the demand and supply for skilled 
labor, and reduce the number of the non-producing 
class. It would dignify labor, and ultimately would 
go far to wipe out the mere distinctions of wealth and 
ancestr\\ It would achieve a bloodless revolution, and 
establish republican industry, merit and learning. 

" We have provided in the articles of endowment 
that the education of the sexes shall be equal, deeming 
it of special importance that those who are to be the 
mothers of a future generation shall be fitted to mold 
and direct the infantile mind at its most critical period. 
A celebrated philosopher has said that the education 
received by a child in the first five years of its life was 
more important tlian all the rest ; another states that 
in its first seven years the child received more ideas 
than in all its after life. How important, therefore, is 



322 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

it to have mothers capable of rightly directing the 
young intelligence. 

" We have also provided that the benefits resulting 
from co-operation shall be freelv taught. It is through 
co-operation that modern progress has been mostly 
achieved. Co-operation societies bring forth the best 
capacities, the best influences of the individual for the 
benefit of the whole, while the good influences of the 
many aid the individual. 

" The intelligent development of the human faculties 
is necessary to man's happiness, and if this be true each 
individual should, if possible, havesuch aliberal educa- 
tion as to enable him to understand,appreciate and enjoy 
the knowledge of others. We trust that the education 
in this institution will be of such a liberal and broad 
character that all connected with it will have none but 
the best of feelings toward other educational institu- 
tions, and particularl V toward those of this State. We 
are all working to the same end. Let us therefore 
cordially co-operate. The immediate object of this 
institution is the personal benefit and advancement of 
the students, but we look beyond to the influence it 
will exert on the general welfare of humanity." 

In his remarks at the laying of the corner-stone of 
the Leland Stanford Junior University at Palo Alto, 
the late distinguished Judge Lorenzo Sawyer, who was 
then President of the Board of Trustees, said in part : 

" The little grove in the suburbs of Athens, which 
Academus presented to the Athenians, constituted the 
academy in which Socrates, and Plato, and their 
disciples, taught their pupils philosophy, rhetoric, logic, 
poetry, oratory, mathematics, the fine arts, and all the 
sciences so far as then developed. The influence 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 333 

emanating- from these schools, notwithstanding their 
limited resources, has been largely felt through all 
succeeding ages ; and it has to this day given direction 
to thought, and contributed largely to mold the 
characters and the civil institutions of all the peoples 
of Europe, and their descendants in America, and 
wheresoever else they may be found on the face of the 
earth. The people of that little republic of Attica — 
the whole area of whose territory was only about 
two-thirds as large as that of the county of Santa Clara, 
in which our coming University is located — exercised a 
greater influence over the civilization, institutions, and 
destinies of modern nations than any other people, 
however great. 

" The groves of Palo Alto, the tall trees, are much 
larger than Academus' sacred shade. These sturdy, 
umbrageous oaks, with Briarean arms, these stalwart, 
spreading laurels, and these tall eucalypti, are much 
grander and more imposing than the arbor-tenants of 
the grove at Athens. The soil of Palo Alto is far 
richer and more productive than that of Attica; it 
yields as fine wheat, as delicious figs, grapes, olives and 
other fruits. Its scenery is almost as grand and awe- 
inspiring, and quite as picturesque. Its climate is as 
dry, equable and delightful. The orroya de San 
Francisquito is as flush and turbulent in winter, if. — 
although abundantly supplied for all purposes of the 
University above — as waterless in its lower reaches in 
summer as the two rivulets Ciphissus and Uissus. The 
transparent clearness and coloring of our sky is as 
matchless as that of Attica, and the azure dome above 
our heads by day or night is as pure and as brilliant as 
the violet crown of Athens. All our conditions are 



324 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

equally favorable to health, to physical and mental 
development, and to physical and mental enjoyment. 
Not an hour in the year is so cold as to interfere with 
mental or physical labor, nor an hour so hot as to 
render one languid, indisposed to physical or mental 
exertion, or as to dull the edge of thought. There is 
not a place in our broad land outside our own beloved 
State, where one can perform so much continuous 
physical or mental labor without weariness or irksorae- 
ness. Should the plans of the founders of the Leland 
Stanford Junior University be carried out in accordance 
with their grand conceptions, with such advantages as 
the location and climate afford, why should not 
students be attracted to its portals, not only from 
California, but from all the other States of our vast 
country, now containing 60,000,000 of people, and even 
from foreign lands? What should prevent this 
University becoming in the great future, the first in 
this, or any other land ? When fully developed, who 
can estimate its influence for good upon the destinies 
of the human race? 

" To the founders of the Leland Stanford Junior 
University : It is fit that the corner stone of this 
edifice should be laid on the anniversary of the birth 
of him who, while yet a mere youth, suggested the 
founding of a University, a suggestion upon which you 
have nobly acted, and to the establishment of which 
you have devoted so large a portion of the accumula- 
tions of a most energetic, active, and trying life. It 
is eminently fit that an institution founded and 
endowed on that suggestion should bear his name. 
The ways ol Providence are inscrutible. Under 
Divine guidance his special mission on earth may have 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 335 

been to wake ami set in motion those slumbering 
sentiments and moral forces which have so grandly 
responded to the impetus given, by devoting so large 
a portion of your acquisitions, and the remainder of 
your lives to the realization of the object thus sug- 
gested. Yes, his mission has been nobl}^ performed, 
and it is fit that both his name and the names of those 
who have executed his behests should be enrolled 
high upon the scroll of fame, and of the benefactors 
of the human race. You have wisely determined, 
during your lives, to manage and control for your- 
selves the funds of the foundation ; to supervise and 
direct the arrangement and construction of the build- 
ings, and the required adjuncts, and to superintend 
and give direction to the early development and 
workings of the New University, This is well. He 
who conceives is the one to manage and control this 
great work, until you shall see the institution founded 
by your bounty firmly established on an immovable 
basis, enjoying a full measure of prosperity, affording 
the citizens of your adopted State the educational 
advantages contemplated, and dispensing to all the bless- 
ings and benign influences that ought to flow from 
such institutions. Long may you enjoy the satisfac- 
tion afforded by hopes fully realized, seri in coelum 
redeatis. 

" Fellow-members of the Board of Trustees of the 
Leland Stanford Junior University : In accepting this 
grand trust you have assumed the most weighty 
responsibilities, not only to the founders of the Uni- 
versity, but to the children and youth of the common- 
wealth, and to their posterity in all time to come. 
You have assumed the guardianship of the vast inherit- 



336 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

ance to which they have fallen heirs. In the near 
future, and thenceforward till time shaH be no more, 
the duty will devolve upon us and our successors to 
administer this inheritance in such manner as to 
accomplish its great ends. 

" Should we succeed in establishing and fully devel- 
oping the New University in accordance wi,th the 
conception and purposes of its founders — as succeed 
we must with proper efforts, and proper management, 
and with the aid and blessing of the Omnipotent and 
All-wise Being, who created all things, and without 
whose approval we can accomplish nothing — its 
power for good will go on from age to age to the end 
of time, increasing and expanding until no corner of 
the earth will be beyond its humanizing, elevating, 
and benign influences. Invoking the Divine blessing 
on our work, let all put forth a united continued effort 
to secure a consummation so devoutly to be wished. 
"When this shall have been done, and the Leland 
Stanford Junior University shall have been once 
securely established upon a firm and stable basis, we 
may exclaim with unhesitating confidence that the idea 
will be fully realized, esto perpetua ! '''' 



^ENATOR GEORGE HEARST.— Among all the 
'^^ men who have engaged in legitimate scientific 
mining on the Pacific coast and, by their thoroughness 
and skill, added gradually to the store of knowledge on 
geological, chemical and metallurgical subjects, not one 
attained the prominence or received the universal recog- 
nition as an expert miner that was freely accorded to 
the late United States Senator George Hearst. His 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 327 

valuable services deserve more extended mention than 
the limits of this history will permit. The daily acts 
of such men, including temporary failures, constant and 
courageous effort, and final success, are the lessons 
which are valuable to others, and the study and emu- 
lation of which are rendering Americans the envied of 
ambitious people the world over. 

The ancestors of George Hearst were from Scotland, 
and settled in South Carolina anterior to the Revolu- 
tionary war. From thence his father emigrated to 
Missouri about the beginning of the present century, 
and settled in what is now Franklin county. The 
elder Hearst was a man possessing sterling qualities, 
among which were energy, industry and economy. To 
his first farm were added two others, until his landed 
possessions aggregated about eight hundred acres. 
Here George Hearst was born in 1820, and almost 
exactly when Missouri became the twenty-fourth mem- 
ber of the sisterhood of States. He inherited grand 
characteristics from both father and mother. His 
father was typically equipped for the requirements of 
pioneer life. Strong, brave and active, with a mechan- 
ical bent, he could make or mend, and was thus inde- 
pendent of the sources of supply and repair, which 
members of old communities consider necessary to exist- 
ence. He was in advance of the rest of the people in 
his locality, and being specially progressive, continued 
in the front rank up to the time of his death. He was 
singularly largehearted, and gave much away to his 
neighbors, and not infrequently to his own detriment. 
George's mother, whose leading traits of character 
were largely reproduced in him, was a remarkable 
woman. In person she was tall and slight, and digni- 



328 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

tied in manner and carriage. She was educated beyond 
the culture usual to her time and neighborhood, and 
was a thorough student, thoughtful and observant at 
all times. Her religious sentiments were earnest and 
pronounced, but utterly wanting in intolerance; for 
she possessed admirable self-control, and was kind, wise 
and deliberate and remarkably clear in judgment. She 
possessed unusual executive ability. It is not difficult, 
having this pen-picture of George's mother before us, 
to see her reproduced in him. His devotion to her was 
phenomenal, and was plainly due to the remarkable 
similarity of traits and characteristics shared by them. 
Educational privileges were few and far between in 
Missouri at that time. Young Hearst had the benefit 
of a very common school, held in a log^cabin, for two 
to four months in the winter seasons. This was shared 
by the boys and girls of the neighborhood in a circuit 
of three or four miles. He made the best use of these 
meager advantages, and later attended a higher school, 
called the American Academy, for about eighteen 
months. With him, work and study had to go hand in 
hand. "While he had no great purpose in life to become 
eminent in book learning, he yet lost no opportunity 
for obtaining all the information possible from that 
source. However, his tuition was so irregular that he 
never got beyond the rudiments of an English educa- 
tion. This deficiency threw him upon his natural 
resources, which w^ere ample. All through life what 
he purposed to do was accomplished after his own 
peculiar fashion. Nothing was more difficult for him 
than an efifort to imitate. He could not acta part. He 
had to be himself or nothing. His thoughts and 
expressions had to be his own by origin or modification, 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 329 

else he was unable to utilize them. His individuality 
was great, and his egotism nil. He was thirty years 
of age before lie could convince himself that he knew 
as much as the generality of those with whom he asso- 
ciated. Even then he was utterly unobtrusive, and if 
there was a place of prominence to be filled he preferred 
to push others into the lead, selecting the modest and 
more laborious place for himself. 

During his sixteenth year George was assigned totne 
management of one of the three farms owned and cal- 
tivated by his father. At twenty-three the death of 
his father threw upon him the entire care of the estate, 
which was considered large at that time, but was 
encumbered to the extent of its value by debts assumed 
by the father in behalf of neighbors who had appealed 
to him. The family then consisted of the mother, his 
sister and himself. He accepted the responsibility and 
in a brief time, by strict economy, had saved enough to 
free the estate from the encumbrance. 

In Washington county, Missouri, some fifteen miles 
from the Hearst homestead, were located galena mines 
long worked by the early French settlers. When 
young Hearst was fifteen years old, the Virginia mine, 
one of the most valuable properties of its kind in the 
world, was opened within a mile of his father's house. 
By frequent trips to the mines and to the smelter run 
by the Frenchmen, George early became proficient in 
the crude but effective methods pursued by these 
miners. When twenty years of age he operated a 
copper mine for himself, and with such remarkable care 
and economy that he was able to accumulate between 
five and six thousand dollars, which was greater wealth 
than the most prosperous farmer in the section could 



330 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

realize in the same length of time. The experience 
gained here stood Mr. Hearst in good stead in later 
years; for the mining rules and methods adopted in 
California were generally originated and proved in the 
mining sections of Missouri, and not onl}^ facilitated in 
the formation of preliminary regulations touching the 
size of claims, the manner of acquiring title to them, 
priority of discovery, and subdivisions of deposits, etc., 
but helped to avoid contentions and disputes which 
would have resulted in delay and loss to all concerned. 

When news of the discovery of gold in California 
reached young Hearst, it seemed to him that this was 
specially his El Dorado, and to it he must go or lose 
the opportunity of his life. He was the mainstay of 
the household, and the ties -binding him to the society 
of his mother and sister were vastly stronger than 
usual. The separation would be only temporary, but 
it was very hard to bear. Mrs. Hearst had the utmost 
confidence in the ability of her son to succeed where 
any others could, and that in a pecuniary sense the 
venture would be greatly to his advantage. But the 
reason which had most influence with her was the 
almost positive assurance that his health, which had 
been greatly impaired by malaria, would be completely 
restored in the mountains of California. So, in the 
suring of 1850, he departed for California. 

A detailed account of his long and wearisome journey 
across the plains with patient but slow going oxen would 
furnish material for an interesting chapter. The route 
taken was that which had been invaded by cholera 
and a virulent type of measles, and almost every mile 
was a shallow gfave, and every rod bore evidences of 
helpless distress. Courage, and determination to live 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 331 

for the sake of his mother enabled him to recover from 
an attack of cholera which would have proved fatal to 
one less powerfully sustained. In the Sink of the 
Carson some of his oxen died, but when water was 
finally readied, he felt that the greatest dangers and 
privations were behind him. He had borne up bravely 
and well, but at Carson river he was prostrated with a 
slow fever. The same uiideviating will which had 
carried him thus far secured his recovery, and after 
spending his last hundred dollars for one hundred 
pounds of flour, he proceeded on his way over the 
Sierra. 

The first place at which young Hearst stopped was 
Pleasant valley in California, about eight miles from 
Ha,ngtown, a name changed many years ago for that 
of Placerville, which, if less suggestive, is not offensive 
to the ear. From Diamond springs an elevation was 
pointed out to him where miners were at work, and 
there he had his first view of raining in the new 
country. As a placer miner he had the experience of 
those who sought for gold — to-day a full purse and 
to-morrow poor, or vice versa. 

Mr. Hearst divided his time until 1865 between 
placer mining and operating a quartz mill. He and his 
associates discovered a mine near where others had 
built and abandoned a mill. The one carried free gold 
and assayed high in value. In anticipation of making 
a fortune at once, they bought the mill. The lead soon 
gave out, however, and they were little better off than 
before they had made the strike. When Washoe 
attracted the first attention, Mr. Hearst had 
obtained nothing of great value from the gold fields 
but experience. He had obtained some gold from pla- 



332 CALIFORNIA GOU) BOOK. 

cer mines, and had run a mill in tho reduction of ore 
from the Leconipton mine, which proved it a good 
property. His first visit to the Comstock extended 
over about two months. This convinced him that it 
was a good place to come back to, and getting together 
what money he could from the sale of his California 
property he returned at once and [)urchased a consider- 
able interest in tho unexplored Ophir mine. He and 
others who went to the Comstock were in search of gold- 
bearing rock, and were looking for nothing else. The 
ore they discovered near the surface was rich in gold, 
and carried also a black substance which was decidedly 
ill their way. That was tossed aside as worthless. 
Later the cumbrous nuisance proved to be silver sul- 
phuretsof almost fabulous value. The Ophir was thjn 
divided into twelve shares. Mr. Hearst owned two of 
these. The owners worked away until they had forty- 
iive tons of the black stuff on th« dump. Hearst had 
concluded that the strange-looking stuff was of value, 
though miners generally declared it worthless. Finally 
he and his partners packed it on mules to Sacramento, 
and thence by steamei's it was shipped to San Fran- 
cisco. None of the local assay ers or mineralogists 
would touch it. An Englishman named Da vies offered 
to ship it to Swansea, and have it tested there. He 
demanded a round commission for his service. Finally 
a German chemist named Kustel proposed to build a 
furnace and reduce the lot for $400 a ton. To-day tlu; 
same character of ores are handled by the Carson rivei* 
mills for less than $5.00 per ton. The demand of the 
German was complied with, and the ore was reduced 
to bullion for $20,250, and it had cost $22,500 to con- 
vey the ore to San Francisco— $42,Tj")0. The profit of 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 333 

the lot was about $80,000, and started the wonderful 
he^ira which at once took place. That was" break of 
day " for the Comstock. 

That summer the war witli the Pyramid Lake 
Indians took place. It was an unnecessary and melan- 
choly affair for the white people of central ISTevada, and 
entailed great loss upon many, r.nd among them was 
George Hearst. He was forced thereby to dispose of a 
|)art of his interest in the Ophir. For a time he retired 
to California, but later resumed operations on the Com- 
stock, and continued there until 1866, the leading spirit 
in the district. There was no one who could so correctly 
estimate the character of a mine nor develop it to 
greater advantage than he. He had no equal in these 
respects. All that was of practical value regarding 
minerals and mineral formations he knew. In this sense 
his perception was so acute that it could be said of him,if 
it ever could be truthfully said of any one, that he was a 
natural mineralogist. Adding to his intuitions the lessons 
learned by observation and experience, he became a 
master miner, and was so recognized by all who were 
familiar with his achievements^ or were capable of 
appreciating the combination of such instinct and 
acquirements in one man as made him the leader in 
practical mining in the United States, llis maturity 
as a mining expert was probably reached during his 
connection with the Comstock; still, this was scarcely 
the beginning of his activity in enterprises that have 
formed an important part of the world's mining. 

Mr. Hearst withdrew from mining on the Comstock 
in 1867, and for a short time was occupied in real estate 
transactions in San Francisco, anticipating the activity 
that must result from the completion of the first over- 



334 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

land railroad. In this side work — for everything but 
mining had been incidental to him — he lost all the 
ready money that he had. Upon the real estate of 
which he retained ownership he borrowed a consider- 
able sum of money and went dbwn into Kern county 
and rained again successfull\\ Returning to the real 
estate business he retrieved his former losses in that 
line, and by 1869 had added largely to his wealth. 

His next turn at his regular vocation was a mining 
enterprise in the territory of Idaho, in which, in common 
with other prominent Comstock mining men, he sunk 
a great deal of money. Another movement in mining 
was in the neighborhood of Salt Lake City. A tele- 
gram, couched in the superlative language peculiar to 
mines and mining, announced to him that the " biggest 
mine in the world" had been discovered, and was in 
need of experienced and plucky investors. Great 
excitement prevailed. Opinions in regard to the new 
find were conflicting. A man now prominent in min- 
ing in Montana, and at that time associated there in 
some ventures with Mr. Hearst, pronounced it worth- 
less, but that there was a little mine in the neighbor- 
hood upon which a prospector was doing some work. 
Mr. Hearst went to examine the hole three or four feet 
deep by twice as many in length, which by courtesy 
was called a mine. Every day for three weeks he 
walked out to inspect the development work, and see 
how the formation held out. At the end of that time 
his mind was satisfied, and he purchased the prospect 
for $30,000, and gave $3,000 more to satisfy a greedy 
outside party who pretended to have some claim on it. 
These are the circumstances under which the marvel- 
lous development in the Ontario mine began. The ore 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 335 

was rebellious. A way bad to be found for separating 
the gold from the rock, zinc, lead and copper before 
the mine could become profitable. Largely owing to 
Mr. Hearst's faith, pluck and determination the prob- 
lem was solved, and in 1S90 the Ontario mine was 
yielding regularly a dividend to its owners of over 
875,000 per month. 

Mr. Hearst invested largely in the Black Hills of 
Dakota, and from there extended his interests to the 
Anaconda district in Montana, in developing which into 
a large, active and thriving mining community he had 
very much to do. The history of the Anaconda mine 
would warrant a somewhat lengthy and detailed study ; 
but for the purpose in hand an outline revealing Mr. 
Hearst's identification with it must be sufficient. Its 
development opened a new page of knowledge and 
experience in scientific raining in the United States. For 
the first one hundred feet it was considered a true silver 
mine, but began to show copper at that depth. At the 
two hundred foot level it developed into a large copper 
vein, and is now one thousand feet deep, the vein being 
from thirty to forty feet thick. 

Here ao^ain was an altoo^ether new business to learn. 
A plant must be provided to work copper. Relying at 
first upon others for the scientific information supposed 
to be necessary for the development of the mine, 
various experiments were made with the representa- 
tives of foreign mineralogical schools, but all was dis- 
appointment. The self-reliant spirit of Americanism 
was aroused, and Mr. Hearst and his associates made 
up their minds to work it themselves. 

In the midst of the difficulties which nemmed them 
in, and while they were struggling to make the prop- 



336 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

erty valuable, the works were destroyed by fire, caus- 
ing great loss aud delay. "Without a moment given up 
to regret or misgivings, the buildings were replaced 
with iron fire-proof structures on a more extended 
scale. At the present time the mine is in splendid run- 
ning order ; the reduction of the ore is proceeding 
satisfactorily, and the yield of the mine is enormous 
and profitable. 

It will be observed that Mr. Hearst did not confine 
his operations to one or two districts or States. His 
enterprises carried him to widely separate points and 
into new and untried fields ; for he had the boldness 
and self-confidence to apply his energies wherever his 
judgment led him. In this he differed from most every 
other great miner on the Pacific Coast. It seems 
contrary to their policy to distribute their energies 
over a wide field, and for the reason, perhaps, that 
they are wanting in that elasticity which characterized 
Mr. Hearst, and are more apt than he was to tie them- 
selves down to a locality to which they have become 
accustomed. For, it would seem that in covering the 
immense territory that formed the field of his opera- 
tions, his concentration has not been less, but rather 
the greater, the diversity of conditions under wljich lie 
has Avorked proving to be a stimulus. 

Mr. Hearst was called away from his im{)ortani 
mining operations by the serious illness of his mothei-. 
The most attractive feature of his strong character 
was the unselfish and tender regard he always evinced 
for her. He devoted himself entirely to her during 
this last illness, doing everything that love could devise 
for her comfort and consolation. As she neared the 
end she was more than ever impressed with anxiety 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 337 

because he was not mated, and she reminded liim that 
it " was not good that man should live alone." The 
young woman who filled her mind as the one to make 
him a good and true wife was a neighbor's daughter, 
named for herself, Phoebe Elizabetli Apperson, a 
sensible and beautiful girl, of whose character and 
worth she was positive. It was his good fortune to 
act upon his mother's suggestion, which, in the fullness 
of time for so happy and momentous an event, resulted 
in his securing the prize for which he strove — "a 
woman whose price \vas far above rubies." From the 
day of their marriage, June 15, 1862, to the day of 
his death, they were one in thought, sympathy and 
purpose. He had told her very little as to his affairs 
in California, so that she allied herself to him for 
himself, uninfluenced by any expectation of fortune; 
while she was prized for her own inherent worth. 
Arrived in San Francisco, she found that her husband 
was closely identified with great interests, occupying a 
leading place in the affairs of the Pacific coast, of 
which the Metropolis was the center. 

Mrs. Hearst's people were among the earliest set- 
tlers in Virginia, and connected with the oldest and 
most prominent, among whom were tlie Randolphs of 
Roanoke. Her grandfather was Dr. John Apperson 
of Abbingdon, a learned physician and an honored 
citizen. At twenty j^ears of age her father went to 
Missouri, where his principal occupation was farming, 
though interested in business at Keokuk, Iowa. Her 
mother's family were Dutch people of means and 
respectability, who first settled in Cliarleston, South 
Carolina, whence they emigrated to Missouri when her 
mother, whose maiden name was Whitmeyer, was tw(j 



338 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

years old. There are still some of her relatives in 
Holland. She attended school in the neighborhood of 
her birthplace until she was fifteen, and then received 
two years tuition under a governess in the family of a 
friend. She was a very ambitious girl, fond of study, 
and devoted to her books above everything. She was 
a thorough student, greedy of learning, and her educa- 
tion has been continuous under the marvelously favor- 
able opportunities she has enjoyed in this country and 
Europe. Possessing fine talent, it is not surprising that 
her literary attainments are superior, and that she 
ranks as one of the most cultured women in America. 
But Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst possesses far higher 
claims than these to the respect and consideration of 
Americans. The death of lier talented husband was 
not only a severe affliction, but it furnished to her and 
the world incontestible evidence of the love, esteem 
and remarkable confidence in which she was held by 
him. All his vast estate was left to her absolutely, with 
the fullest power to dispose of it as she might choose. 
There is not a doubt that she was intimately acquainted 
with his inmost wishes in regard to individual and 
public benefactions, and that her highest ambition has 
l)een to dispense the fortune he left her wisely and 
lavishly— that is, to give, give and always with the 
single purpose of doing good to the deserving. " Uncle 
George" Hearst was the most open-handed, large- 
hearted and unquestioning almoner on the Pacific coast. 
The sight of him was worth a double eagle at any 
time to hundreds of old miners who had passed the 
time for handling the pick and shovel, and who were 
expecting soon to walk on streets of gold in the new 
Jerusalem. Very many of these are still the objects 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 339 

of his generosity, but it is dispensed by the hand of her 
to whom he left all his cares and duties of this kind, 
certain of the fidelity with which his generous peculiar- 
ities woidd be continued. 

For many years Mrs. Hearst has been identified with 
the various philanthropic interests so generously sus- 
tained by the ladies of San Francisco. She has taken 
special pride and pleasure in the free kindergarten 
schools of the city, and has charged herself with the 
support of several of these institutions. Her observa- 
tions in these, and the consciousness that the good born 
there ought to be nurtured and supported for some years 
after the children left the kindergarten, influenced her 
to conceive the plan of erecting a living monument to 
the memory of George Hearst by instituting and richly 
endowing a Boys' Industrial School at Pleasanton. Be- 
fore the public had learned anything of her intentions, 
Mrs. Hearst had visited the leadin": techical and indus- 
trial schools in America and Europe, and had selected 
those features which commended themselves to her 
careful juilgment as best, and these will be combined 
in the boys' school at Pleasanton. The endowment of 
the school is munificent. In selecting the site, Mrs. 
Hearst has had in mind, not only the facility for carry- 
ing on the various branches in a teclinical or industrial 
training, but also, that while easily accessible for prac- 
tical purposes, it shall be far enough away to secure the 
boys from the temptations which are too abundant in 
a great city. She hopes to give the boys gathered into 
this home such influence and knowledge as will help 
their possessors to joy and life, and such as will enlarge 
the bounds of their being, and encourage them to choose 
the o:oi)d and refuse the evil. 



340 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Tiie members of her own sex are not neglected by 
Mrs. Hearst. It is her purpose to found schools where 
girls may learn all that is necessary to make them good 
wives and honored mothers. In the line of benefac- 
tions already inaugurated, Mrs. Hearst has founded 
eight free scholarships for young women at the Uni- 
versity of California. These scholarships give thirty 
dollars per month to each of eight young women to be 
chosen by the faculty of the University from any part 
of California. The great beauty and breadth of her 
own grand nature are shown in the requirements she 
makes of those accepting the scholarships: 

" The qualifications necessary for any young woman 
receiving one of these scholarships shall be high char- 
acter and noble aims, it being understood that without 
the assistance thus given a univcrsit}' education would, 
in each case, be impossible.'' 

It would be remarkable if the grand qualities which 
commended George Hearst to the love and esteem of 
such a woman as Mrs. Hearst had not found favor 
with the public. As a fact the confidence of his fellow 
citizens was early attached to him, and at twentv-six 
years of age he was selected to represent them in the 
State convention of the party. That was in Missouri, 
where his outgoings and incomings had been observed 
by ills neighbors. In San Francisco he was chosen by 
his party to represent a part of the city in the State 
legislature; and when General Miller was nominated 
by the republicans for the United States Senate, 
George Hearst received the unanimous vote of the 
democratic minority for the same place. When the 
place became vacant by the death of General Miller, 
Governor Stoneraan appointed Mr. Hearst to the 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 341 

vacancy, and the legislature elected him to succeed 
himself when that term expired. These honors were 
conferred upon him during his absence, and without 
solicitation on his part. 

The course of Senator Hearst was independent and 
pronounced. He never permitted himself to be com- 
promised by interested parties who might desire to 
promote or hamper legislation for selfish ends, but 
remained free to exercise his judgment, exert his 
influence, and cast his vote purely in the interest of his 
constituents and the people of the whole United States, 
for whom he was a representative, not alone in name, 
but in fact. He was always a democrat, but never a par- 
tizan. He was a democrat solely because he regarded 
the policy of that party as best adapted to promote 
the welfare of the countrv. He was in no sense a 
politician, but in every sense a patriotic statesman. 

Senator Hearst occupied a place on three very 
important committees — those on Raili'oads, on Indian 
Affairs and on Mines and Mining. It was as a member 
of tiiese committees tliat he did most of his work in 
the Senate, bringing to bear his large fund of infor- 
mation, and devoting his entire tiuie and attention to 
the consideration of the bills referred to them, dis- 
cussing, amending, and presenting them for delibera- 
tion to the Senate after painstaking and careful study. 
The real labor of the Senate is in the committee room,, 
and there Senator Hearst displayed all the faithful- 
ness, energy and good judgment which had made him 
successful in his private enterprises. 

Beyond this, his manner, which was always dignified, 
considerate and polite, endeared him to those with 
and for whom he worked, and, above all, his constitu- 



342 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK'. 

ency could depend that all matters in which they 
were concerned to say nothing of the general affairs 
of the Nation, would be carefully considered on their 
merits. The Senator was never a speech-maker in the 
ordinary sense of the term, and being a close observer, 
he saw that the men who said most were not tliose 
who carried the greatest weight, or who were capable 
of doino- the most good. When the occasion came lor 
hiiu to express his views or to advocate needed legis 
lation, he did so in a brief, pithy, businesslike manner. 
and was always listened to with a deference that gave 
effect to his statements. 

Naturally he was familiar with those economic 
questions that have been involved to a greater or less 
degree in his own experience, but his observation and 
study, furthermore, were such as to give him a large 
fund of knowledge regarding most subjects that come 
before the Senate for legislation. Perhaps the most 
important matter before Congress in the session of 
1889-90 was the silver question, on which he was 
thorouglily at home, and spoke with remarkable clear- 
ness and cogency. 

In regard to the Chinese question, which, though it 
may appear to be disposed of, still threatens us with 
international complications, it might be expected that 
Senator Hearst would have been prejudiced by the 
-clamor of those who, in and out of season, rage against 
the Mongolians. While he saw certam valuable quali- 
ties in the Chinamen, and insisted that, being now in 
this country and entitled to residence, they should 
enjoy all the privileges guaranteed to them by oui- 
Government, he regarded them, nevertheless, as unac- 
ceptable and injurious to our people. His argument 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 343 

is based upon high and rational grounds. He thought 
deeply, without bias, and expressed himself candidly 
and l"earlessl3\ 

Speaking of Mr. Hearst chiefly as a Senator, H. W. 
Blair, the distinguished member from New Hamp- 
shire, says: ''I regard him as an admirable character, 
and one that will repay the most careful study. The 
more I see of him the better I like him. There is a 
great deal of good nature, actual nobility, in him — 
that which is, I think, what some people call personal 
magnetism, for the want of a better name, which causes 
me to both enjoy his society and admire the man. 
And I am not alone in entertaining this view of him ; 
in fact, I never have known a Senator who so enjoyed 
the universal respect and confidence of the members, 
his colleagues, as does Senator Hearst. He under- 
stands himself perfectly ; is modest ; has a remarkable 
fund of good sense ; is independent ; but always cour- 
teous and affable. Coming, as he did, without the 
professional or literary training, which is ordinarily 
supposed to fit men for the National Legislature, it is 
interesting to note that he finds himself at home and 
among friends at once. What he may lack in knowl- 
edge of books, he supplies by his native force of 
intellect. In fact, he grasps the principles of great 
national questions as readily, and as thoroughly, as any 
legislator I ever knew." 

And thus speaks C. K. Davis, Senator from Minne- 
sota, who, like Mr. Blair, was opposed to Mr. Hearst 
in politics : " I obtained my first insight into the 
character of Senator Hearst early in 1888, in the 
sessions of the Senate select committee upon the 
adjustment of the debts of the Pacific railroads to the 



344 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK:. 

United States. The subjects involved are, as every 
one knows, of the utmost complexity of fact and laws; 
comprehending figures which reach to scores of mil- 
lions of dollars ; events which have been in transaction 
for nearly thirty years ; the actions of men living and 
of men dead ; censure and praise in the same persons ; 
the establishment of civilization over the middle third 
of our country, and the consolidation of the east, the 
Mississippi valley and the Pacific territory by those 
iron bands of railroad track which are stronger than 
any political contrivance. He, with characteristic 
reserve, had said little. I had no personal knowledge 
of, and never had any connection with the questions 
under consideration, and was, of course, in need of 
information. Naturally enough, I addressed some 
inquiries to him.. I found that he was completely 
informed . 

''This did not surprise me, for I knew that in his 
personal experience was comprehended much of the 
history of this country west of the Rocky mountains. 
But I found, in addition, such soundness of judgment, 
such just conceptions of right and wrong, and such 
argumentative power of clear, yet condensed, state- 
ment, such knowledge of human nature, such consider- 
ation for its infirmities, such regard for its better traits, 
and such contempt for its meanness, that I was greatly 
attracted to him. Since then I have yielded to this 
attraction on every occasion. He is, in many respects, 
the most interesting man I have ever known. 

" I was struck with his absolute fairness. Affec- 
tion and dislikes do not disturb his judgment. He 
speaks the truth ; what he knows is to him a 
certainty, and he states it without reservation. He 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 345 

is typical of a vanishing class of men, the pioneers to 
whom nature is very near because they, natural and 
unconventional, have been obliged to interrogate her and 
to confide in her. His perceptive faculties are of a very 
high order. He glances and sees where others gaze 
until they are blinded. His judgment follows quickly, 
and it must be one of great accuracy, for he owes to it 
his remarkable success in life. 

"These are qualities to admire. Tiiere are others 
which excite a higher regard. These are his charitable 
construction of motives and acts of others; his absti- 
nence from disparagement of other men ; his judicious 
generosity ; his immediate defense of any friend when 
attacked ; his intuitive detection of frauds and shams ; 
his scorn of phariseeisra, and his recognition of merit. 

"Education — using the word in the popular sense 
— has done little for him, but I have never 
met a man for whom this deprivation has done more. 
Thrown upon his own resources, he has derived from 
long years of observation and experience a fund of 
lore which books could not have taught him. 

" Mr. Hearst was a representative of the people, 
whose confidence he acquired and held through man}^ 
years in his wide relation with them as a private 
citizen, and whose trust in'him was confirmed by bis 
faithful discharge of duty toward them as a public 
servant in r.n office whicli is next to the highest that 
they have within their gift." 

Shortly after Mr. Hearst's re-election to the United 
States Senate, his health gave signs of failing, and by 
the latter part of 1890 his condition caused the gravest 
alarm. All that skill and affeciion could do for him 
failed to arrest the progress of disease, and in Februar}'' 



S46 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

1891, he passed away, leaving a place in the hearts of 
the people and a record that few men have so honestly 
earned. 



_^0N. JAMES G.FAIR.— The grand achievements 
of this successful miner, statesman and finan- 
cier are so intimately inter vvov^en with the progress of 
California, and have had and are still having such 
marked influence upon her material interests, that a 
history of the Golden State from which a notice of his 
work was absent would Jack the very essence of truth- 
fulness. Furthermore, in no other wa}'' can useful 
lessons become of such practical good as when the 
actor is brought prominently before the mind of the 
youthful aspirant for an honorable career among men. 
For that reason, and because James G. Fair has earned 
far more than we can say in his behalf, we briefly 
trace his busy life. 

Before our Revolutionary war so many of the sturdy 
and honest natives of northern Ireland left for the 
American Colonies as greatly to disturb thoughtful 
English statesmen. Indeed, there has been no time 
since when comparatively as great a number have come 
to this country, and they exercised a most powerful 
influence upon the laws and genius of the government 
formed soon thereafter. James G. Fair was born in 
the north of Ireland near the close of 1831, and could 
trace his linenge to some of the noted families of both 
Ireland and Scotland. He is therefore strictly Scotch 
Irish. He had few educational advantages before his 
parents brought him to the United States, and gave 
him the benefit of the public school at Geneva, 111. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 34? 

Later, he took a thorough course in one of the business 
colleges at Chicago. When only sixteen years «>kl lie 
was depending absolutely on his own resources, and 
was backed by no interest but his native worth and a 
firm determination to succeed. 

In 1849, when less than eighteen years of age, he 
was placer mining on the Feather river, having crossed 
the plains the spring of that year. It must be remem- 
bered that the cream of the "golden placers" had been 
fairly well recovered at an early date after the dis- 
covery, and that after the end of 1850-51 success with 
pan, rocker or long-Tom was more a matter of luck 
than science. Nearly all the rich diggings had been 
depleted of metal, and even that early very many of 
the Argonauts — those who had been very successful or 
utterly disappointed — had returned home or gone 
where new diggings were reported. A change was 
taking place in the methods of obtaining gold. Atten- 
tion was turned to quartz mining, and to the hidden 
treasures in the deep beds of ancient rivers, Yery 
little capital was needed to work a rich placer success- 
fully. It required a great deal of coin to successfully 
handle a quartz mine, or recover the buried riches from 
the cemented gravels in the lost rivers. It also 
required an amount of practical and scientific knowl- 
edge possessed by none of those who hrst came to Cah- 
fornia, and was slowly acquired in the rougii school of 
experience by a very few. Mr Fair absorbed the veiy 
knowledge required with such rapidity as to make ii 
seem that he became an expert by intuition. His 
first experience in quartz mining was obtained in his 
own mine in Calaveras county, and from the begin- 
ning he was accorded first place as a safe and reliable 



348 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

authority. The only mistake made in regard to him 
was in the assumption that he derived any knowledge 
intuitively. Every scrap of useful information was 
obtained by work — by careful and laborious study by 
day, and continued long after others slept. His 
wonderful memory' was his main helper, and a fact 
once discovered remained on call to be used instantly 
whenever and wherever needed. 

During this period of invaluable schooling, Mr. Fair 
vras accumulating capital, without which acquirements, 
however superior, generally prove barren of results. It 
was not long before his intelligent services were in 
demand in Nevada, where a large amount of gold and 
silver had been recovered from the gravel and quartz. 
He took charge there with well-defined opinions, to 
prove the correctness of which would entail the expen- 
diture of large sums of money. If he had not been well 
supplied with means of liis o\vn, it is not doubtful that 
his belief in the value of deep mining would have 
remained an undeveloped theory. Fortunately he 
could back his opinions with coin from his own 
pocket, and others were more willing to follow the 
lead of a man so situated than they would have been to 
spend their own money on the suspicion that their 
superintendent might possibly be correct. Mr. Fair had 
his way, and the very bowels of the " everlasting hills" 
were invaded, resulting m the addition of several hundred 
millions of the precious metals to the wealth of the 
world, none of which would have been recovered in our 
day but for the knowledge and courage of James G. 
Fair, The mines in the Comstock district have pro- 
duced four hundred million dollars worth of metal, 
nearly one-half of which, or 46.83 per cent., has been 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 349 

gold. . Thus it will be seen that Nevada is not an 
exclusively "Silver State." 

The State of Nevada did itself credit in selecting 
-James G. Fair to represent the important interests of 
the entire Pacific coast, and that young and vigorous 
State more especially, in the Senate of the United 
States. Notwithstanding the immensity of his 
interests, and the constant care with which he had nur- 
tured them, Senator Fair took high rank as a careful 
statesman, highly popular with the best and ablest men 
in the Senate, and for six years filled the position most 
creditably. Tliat he is not still a member of the august 
body is no fault of the people of Nevada. It is simply 
because he could not properly perform the duties of 
the high office without utterly sacrificing interests 
immensely important to every section of the Pacific 
coast, and indirectly to the whole country. 

Among the vast enterprises which owe their inception 
and prosperous condition to Senator Fair the Nevada 
Bank deserves notice. The standing of this great 
financial institution is first-class among moneyed men 
the world over. Some time after the bank had become 
a power in financial centers, Mr. Fair withdrew from 
its active management. Later it became involved 
because of speculations foreign to the intentions of its 
originators, and its doors were temporarily closed with 
Habilitiesof about $14,000,000, and assets which might 
be made available after a time to the extent of possibly 
one-half that sum. The permanent failure of the bank 
meant utter ruin to many innocent depositors, and an 
almost certain panic which would spread disaster to 
every business enterprise on the coast. The unfortunate 
condition of the JSevada bank was due to no act of 



350 CALIFORNIA GOLD IWOK'. 

omission or coramission of Senator Fair, Yet he 
threw himself and his immense wealth into the breach, 
and for nineteen months lived almost continuously 
inside the bank walls. As soon as it became known 
that his mastei hand was at the helm unquestioned 
confidence was restored, and his financial skill and 
resources soon liad the Nevada bank in as proud a 
position as it had ever occupied. 

Another important work of Senator Fair was the 
construction of the South Pacific Railroad, runnint^^ 
from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. It proved of great 
benefit to the ranchers along the route, and was, in 
effect, a competitor of the Southern Pacific Company 
for a very important trade. That corporation finally 
purchased the productive line for $7,000,000, which 
gave the Senator a good profit. 

We might continue for pages to name important 
industrial enterprises which Senator Fair is assisting 
with his millions. It is very much to the credit of his 
ability that his investments are made with such rare 
care that he seldom has to enter any sum to " profit 
and loss." A failing venture would do injury to the 
coast in a degree, but a brilliant success induces other 
capitalists to have courage to do likewise. Senator 
P'air has no idle capita.'. His great investments in 
real estate are to the end that the land may be 
improved, giving employment to thousands. So many 
who became wealthy here have seen fit to go east or 
to Europe to spend their monev, that the course of 
Senator Fair becames doubly patriotic and commentl- 
able. On the Pacific coast he accumulated his millions, 
and among this people he is investing it, and thus 
adding to the prosperity of all. No wonder that he is 
popular. 



CALIFOKXLl GOLD BOOK. 361 

The visitor to the Pacitic coast is not slow in recogniz- 
ing the fact that a large proportion of those who have 
become prominent, either for wealth, enterprise or 
philanthropy, are of Irish, Scotch or Scotch-Irish 
origin. They find the finest buildings in the city bear- 
ing names which carry an odor of the shamrock 
and thistle— the " Murphy," " Flood," " Donahue," 
" Phelan " and many others. Among the great 
capitalists they hear of Fair, Phelan, Montgomery, 
McDonald, O'Brien, Mackey and a hundred others 
whose names have a distinct perfume from the downs 
or braes or a combination of both. But, as a fact, this 
state of things is not peculiar to California and the 
Pacific coast. Since long before Patrick Henry threw 
down the gage to wrong, every grand and noble pro- 
position has been suggested or warmly supported by 
the Scotch-Irish. In law, theology, education, science, 
medicine, the legislature and philanthropy, the men of 
Scotch-Irish blood have been first. Nothing in our 
national history would be of much worth if shorn of 
the achievements of those of Irish and Scotcli origin. 
Grandly stand out the names of Jackson, Grant, Lee, 
Logan, Forest, McPherson, Johnson and Sheridan, 
overtopping all others in history by a full head. And 
we detract nothing from their brilliancy by naming 
Senator Fair as an honorable and successful exemplar 
of their grandest characteristics. He has been a 
persistent worker all his life, and will continue thus to 
the end. Notwithstanding the fact that no man in his 
employ is expected to devote as many hours to his 
service as he gives, his appearance now proves two 
things: Constant employment need not age one and 
temperate habits increase tlje ability to toil. 



353 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK'. 

Within a short time Senator Fair has been greatly 
bereaved. Scarcely had the large numbers who were 
pensioners on the generous bounty of Mrs. Fair ceased 
to mourn her decease, when James G. Fair, Jr., just 
come to vigorous manhood, was taken from a life of 
hope and usefulness. The loss was a heavy affliction to 
Senator Fair, and grievously disarranged plans which 
Nevada friends had formed for obtaining the intellectual 
help of young Fair whenever he chose to accept a seat 
in Congress. One son, Charles L. Fair, and two 
daughters are left, the oldest of whom is happily 
married to Herman Oelrichs, of New York. 

It would be impossible to give any correct estimate 
of the charities dispensed by Senator Fair. We doubt 
wliether he has any idea of the amount he gives away 
to those he deems <leserving. One of the severest 
penalties attaching to the known possessors of great 
wealth is the certainty that they will be deluged with 
begoing letters, and soiled hands will be thrust in their 
way at every turn by persons too lazy to work and 
none too proud to beg. Senator Fair has had his 
share of these afflictions ; but we know of many cases 
where the weak have been piloted over rough places 
by his beneficence, and no record has been kei>t by 
him, either of the opportune gift, or the kindly manner 
in which it was tendered. We have no doubt, how. 
ever, that Senator Fair will eventually find that all this 
nmltitude of kindnesses, though altogether forgotten 
by him, has been registered by the painstaking hand 
of God in characters of eternal beauty. And in the 
present, nothing can be more gratifying to Senator 
Fair than the respectful and affectionate manner in 
which he is mentioned by all classes and all ages. On 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. aSS 

the Pacilic coast every old citizen is proud to meet 
" Uncle Jimmie Fair.'' 



O^. GUILFORD WILEY WELLS.— In giving 
a brief sketch of the senior member of the 
eminent law firm of Wells, Monroe & Lee, of Los 
Angeles, the California Gold Book departs somewhat 
from its policy ; but its readers will recognize the 
appropriateness of that departure, as the object is to 
present a fair record of the facts which illustrate the 
great progress taking place in California and the 
instrumentalities in use. 

G. Wiley Wells was born February 18th, 1844, and 
numbers among his ancestors the most prominent 
people in Central New York, where culture and refine- 
ment has been in its zenith for more than half a 
century, and where some of the greatest men America 
has produced first saw the light, and received their 
training. 

When the War of the Rebellion was precipitated 
upon the country, young Wells was in college, and 
nearing the time of his graduation. The call to ilie 
rescue of the Nation found him ready, and in May, 
1861, he was at the front and in the thickest of the 
contest. His ability and gallantry took him from the 
ranks in a very short time, and he became one of Gen. 
Phil. Sheridan's most trusted officers. Twice he was 
wounded, the last time so severely as to permanently 
disable him, and twice he was breveted for gallantry 
on the field of battle, and the last time promoted to the 
rank of colonel. This last wound w^as so near the close 
of active operations that the war was at an end by the 
time his wountis had beaun to heal. 



364 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

As soon as able to pursue his studies, Colonel Wells 
entered the law department of Columbia University, 
Wasiiington City, <jraduating from tlieiice with high 
honors. From there he removed to Mississippi, settling 
at Holly Springs. In 1870 he was appointed district 
attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, by 
President Grant, who never made a mistake where he 
personally selected an official. Colonel Wells occupied 
this position when the Kuklux Klan came into being, 
and had to prosecute a great many of these desperate 
men under the Kuklux act of Congress. He drew the 
first indictment framed under that law which held, and 
which received the endorsement of United States 
courts in the South, and was pronounced sound by the 
Supreme Court of the United States, on appeals of 
cases which were carried to that tribunal of last resort. 

During the years in which Colonel Wells was the prose- 
cuting officer of the Government he obtained about 
2,200 convictions, and had arrayed 'against him the 
most powerful and influential bar in the United States, 
of which the late Justice Lamar was a member. 

l\i 1876, Colonel Wells was sent to Congress from the 
Second District of Mississippi. The impartiality and 
justice of his official course in Mississippi was thereby 
endorsed in a most remarkable manner, he receiving 
the votes of nine out of ten of the men he had prose- 
cuted, and their influential relations and friends, and 
that, too, without retracting a single sentiment promul- 
gated by him as an active and aggressive member of 
the republican party. 

In 1877 Colonel Wells was appointed consul general to 
China. There it became his duty to iuv^estigate the 
official conduct of his predecessor. His findings in the 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 355 

case created an antagonism from a powerful coterie at 
the Capitol, and facts and testimony in the case were 
suppressed. On learnino; this Colonel Wells telegraphed 
his peremptory resignation on January 10, 1878, and as 
soon thereafter as the affairs of the important position 
could be transferred to a responsible representative of 
the State Department, Colonel Wells returned to the 
United States, taking up his residence at Los Angeles. 
Later Congress investigated this whole question, and 
gave its emphatic endorsement to the acts of Colonel 
Wells, and its signal approval to all he had done. 

Colonel Wells has been a part of the grand progress of 
Los Angeles and southern California, and an important 
factor in producing it. Almost the entire material 
growth of Los Angeles and the surrounding country 
has taken place since his residence there. His individ- 
uality is great, and his wonderful influence is stamped 
upon any community with which his lot is cast. His 
reputation as a Christian statesman and an able lawyer 
is as wide as the country, and those who know him 
recognize the claims of a country in which he would be 
willing to live as necessarily superior, and they are 
immediately attracted to its investigation. Many of the 
best citizens of Los Angeles were first induced to visit 
that place because Colonel Wells had chosen it for his 
home. He is prominent in every enterprise having for 
its object the improvement of the community. Great- 
hearted and generous, and wonderfully equipped in the 
principles of his profession, his law firm has enjoyed 
the cream of the practice in California, and frequently 
has cases which he has to prosecute before the Supreme 
Courts of the State and of the United States. Being 
in the prime of his manhood, Colonel Wells will remain a 



356 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

power for good for many years to come, and a per 
manent benefit to the great State of California. 



ON. A. T. HATCH.— For the purposes of the 
'^^ California Gold Book it is not necessary to 
trace the life story of this great horticulturist back of 
the year 1871, when he came to realize something of 
the great profit there was in fruit-growing, from sell- 
ing the pears from three trees for more than he could 
have obtained from three acres planted to wheat or 
barley — that is, the net profit was greater. Since his 
birth at Elkhart, Indiana, in 1837, the career of the 
boy had indicated what the man would be, and what 
he developed to be during his labors in the mines. The 
results of the latter had enabled him to purchase a 
wheat ranch in the Suisun valley, Solano county. On 
it were three pear trees, planted by some former resi- 
dent. These produced bountifully every year, and 
during the first season Mr. Hatch obtained possession 
the sales from them changed the plans of this indus- 
trious and energetic men, and added millions to the 
productive capacity of the State of California, and the 
northern portion more especially. 

Riirht then Mr. Hatch determined to risk his for- 
tunes on the cultivation of fruit. If he had been a 
millionaire every dollar of his capital would have been 
planted beneath the roots of young trees from the 
nursery. As it was, he planted all he possibly could, 
only to be laughed at by his wheat-growing neighbors. 
It was not until 1875 that he had planted all of the 
120 acres adapted to fruit in his original purchase. 
Then he began to study the habits of trees, and the 



VAtJnokNiA GOLD B00k\ iiS"? 

character and constituents of soils. He was after 
information, and was specially proud to come in posses- 
sion of a new fact, regardless of the source, or the 
seeming insignificance of what he was learning. His 
anxiety to know what experience had taught others 
resulted in the organization of the State Horticultural 
Society in 1879, and of that he has been the most 
active member, and vice-president continuously. 

About this time the trees first planted by him began 
to produce. His inspirations were verified, and he 
commenced reaching out for other fields to conquer. 
In 1882 he bought the Ellsworth ranch, containing 217 
acres. Three years later he was in possession of the 
Turner place of 237 acres, and the Switzer tract of 80 
acres, and the next year he had added the Peabody 
farm of 127 acres. These gave him an immense place, 
and all in one body. That is his home orchard, and is 
the finest and most productive piece of property in the 
State. It is not all in fruit. In 1872 he had planted 
300 Languedoc almond trees as an experiment. When 
four years old they gave a net return of $187 per acre. 
That was satisfactory. From thence he began to plan 
for new varieties, and has originated the " 7XZ," " Ne 
Plus TJltra^'' '■'■ WonjyareiJ,^^ '■'' EI Snpremo,"' and many 
others (192 varieties in 1886) ; but those named are of 
such extraordinary excellence that Mr. Hatch had 
"planted 203 acres more to these varieties before 1888. 
He is now the recognized authority on almonds — the 
soil adapted to their most vigorous growth, the kinds 
to plant, the distance apart, and all other facts which 
will enhance results. 

Mr. Hatch has made use of the information he 
gained in regard to soils, and their effect upon the size 



358 CALIFORNIA GOLD B06K. 

and flavor of different kinds of fruits, nuts and vines. 
He has lands in Alameda, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, 
Placer, Butte, and other counties, and is able to prove 
his theories by the finest samples of products from each 
locality. He has been a real pioneer missionary in 
many of the neighborhoods he has invaded; but their 
residents were speedily converted, for by the adoption 
of his ideas they see immense profits coming their way, 
and at the same time the ratio of hard work becoming- 
very much smaller. He has been an educator whose 
lessons have made life easier to the ranchers, and at 
the same time doubled up the productive value of the 
ranches many times over. 

In addition to building up his own property, Mr. 
Hatch always finds time for important public services. 
He first suggested in the State Horticultural Society 
the discussion which resulted in the organization of the 
California Fruit Union, which he served two years as 
president, declining re-election in 1888. His faith in 
California as a field for enterprise and the need of 
drawing hither a larger population to furnish the 
workers now imperatively demanded by our fruit 
growers, induced Mr. Hatch to take a leading part in 
the organization of the State Board of Trade in 1887, of 
which he accepted the presidency. Its objects is to 
make California better known, and thus to attract desir^ 
able immigration. He is California's Commissioner 
of Horticulture to the World's Fair, and has been inde- 
fatigable in his efforts to make the fruit display credit, 
able to the State. 

If ever any public-spirited citizen found his wife a 
"helpmeet" from God, Mr. Hatch made that aoquisi. 
Lion in the woman lie married east in 1860, She has 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 359 

been the intimate sharer of ev'ery vicissitude in his 
career up to tliis lime, and can claim a right to enjoy 
an interest in the princely income of more than 
$100,000 a year from the home place, and all that 
comes from the other ventures where she has heartily 
approved the risks taken. All the honor which should 
attach to the expensive efforts of Mr. Hatch to intro- 
duce California fruits into England must be divided 
with her, for in support of every enterprise undertaken 
by him she has accorded an earnest " Amen." 



^^LAUS SPRECKELS.— Among the great man- 
\^^ ufacturing and commercial Hrms, which are 
I'epresentative of the wealth, enterprise and business 
integrity of San Francisco merchants, the liouse 
founded by Claus Spreckels admittedly stands fore- 
most. The history of sugar refining on the Pacific 
coast is practically a record of the genius and achieve- 
ments of this remarkable man; while the house flag of 
the great shipping and commission firm of J. D. 
Spreckels &; Bros., now an incorporated company, is 
known and respected in the principal ports of the 
world. 

Claus Spreckels was born at Lamstedt, Hanover, in 
1828, At the early age of eighteen he emigrated to 
America, locating at Charleston, South Carolina, where 
he became identified with tlie grocery trade. Before 
he had attained his majority he was conducting a 
general grocery business .on his own account. He 
married early in life and his oldest son, John D. 
Spreckels, the well-known merchant, was born at 
Charleston. Although successful in trade at Charles- 



:;(;n rAt.lFORXJA coU) nooK. 

ton, the field of enterprise was too narrow for his 
ambition, and in 1855 he sold out his business and estab- 
lished himself in the same line at New York, where 
he prospered. But fortunately for San Francisco, 
Chms Spreckels' thoughts were soon turned in this 
direction, through the statement of his brother, who 
was in business here. lie determined to go to the 
Pacific coast, promptly sold out his New York estab- 
lishment, and started for the Golden Gate, where he 
arrived in July, 1856, by the steamer "John L. Ste- 
vens,'"' from Panama. Here Glaus Spreckels' life woi k 
practically began ; and here, despite a few years of 
signal achievement in Philadelphia, Pa., it will prob- 
ably end. 

In 1850 Claus Spreckels is found conducting a gro- 
cery business in San Francisco ; but this was too slow 
for his restless energy and ambition, and in 1857 he 
established the Albany brewery, managing both with 
his proverbial success. The brewing business, how- 
ever, expanded so rapidly that he was ultimately forced 
to devote his entire attention to it, and he thereupon 
sold out his store and withdrew finally from the gro- 
cery trade. He introduced many improvements in 
tlie process of brewing, and had the satisfaction of 
making money in a business where others had failed. 
But he saw that there were larger opportunities in 
another field of manufacture, and in 1803 he sold out 
his interest in the Albany brewery to go into the 
suffar refining business. 

This was a bold venture on the part of the young 
merchant, because the field was then fully occupied by 
men possessing large capital and resources; but he had 
unbounded confidence in his own abilitv to overcome 



CAUFORNLX GOLD BOOK. 361 

all obstacles, and as he had developed very considerable 
inventive skill in his brewing enterprise, he knew that 
he could so simplify the process of sugar refining as 
to more than offset the advantages of his established 
rivals. He found others also who had equal faith in 
him, and in 1863, Claus Spreckels established the Bay 
Sugar Refiner v at the corner of Batterv and Union 
streets, San Francisco, and he became president and 
manager of the company. 

He visited New York on behalf of this enterprise, 
and after the most careful inspection of the relineries 
there, selected machinery for the Bay Sugar Refinery 
and shipped it to San Francisco. The result justified 
his forethought and skill, and when in 1866 he sold 
out his interest in the refinery to proceed to Europe 
and make a further study of sugar manufacture, he 
left a prosperous concern, and took with him a very 
substantial fortune. 

While in Europe Mr. Spreckels r^ade a thorough 
study of the beet sugar industry of Germany, even 
entering one of the factories at Magdeburg as a work- 
man to familiarize himself with the practical details. 
The result of his investigation demonstrated that it 
would not pay to establish beet sugar factories in 
California owing to the high price of labor there, 
li the conditions of manufacture had been favorable 
then as they are now, California would have had the 
i)eet sugar industry established a score of years befoie 
it has been by Mr. Spreckels. But having satisfied 
himself upon that vital point, he at once turned his 
mind to the practical detail of simplifying the processes 
c)f sugar refining in America, where there was an ever 
increasing demand. Accordinglv he returned to New 



362 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

York, where he spent months elaborating his ideas and 
making costly experiments with new machinery. He 
ordered a new plant built, embodying all his improve- 
ments, and in 1867 founded the California Sugar 
Refinery at the corner of Eighth and Brannan streets, 
San Francisco, of which he w^as the sole owner and 
manager. This enterprise was a success from the stmt, 
as the sugar was superior to any other product on the 
market. It soon became necessary to enlarge the 
works, and two refineries were built, one in 1868, the 
other in 1878, to take the place of the wooden structure 
in which the original start had been made. The daily 
capacity of the California Sugar Refinery at this time 
was 255,000 pounds of refined sugar, and it employetl 
a working force of 250 men. 

It was during this period that Mr. Spreckels invented 
and brought into operation the processes of making 
hard and cube sugar direct from the centrifugals, and 
their introduction put him beyond competition. The 
old process took six days to perfect; by his invention 
the process was complete in twenty-four hours. From 
this point in his career Claus Spreckels was without a 
serious rival in his special line of manufacture, and he 
was knowm henceforth as " the Sugar King." 

Meantime the Reciprocity Treaty with Hawaii went 
into operation, and although Claus Spreckels had 
opposed its ratification he was not slow to avail him- 
self of its commercial advantages as providing a near-by 
supplv of raw sugar. Accordingly he visited the 
islands in the mail steamer which took down the news 
of the ratification of the treaty in 1876, and made a 
contract with the planters for all their sugar for a term 
of vears. He thus had the entire control of Hawaiian 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 363 

sugar m addition to access to the open markets of the 
world, and it soon became necessary to enlarge the 
capacity of his refinery, the sugar from which found 
ready sale as far east as the Missouri river. Ten acres 
of land on the Potrero, South San Francisco, having a 
deep water frontage to the Bay, were bought, and the 
foundation stone of the present refinery was laid Ma}' 
28, 1881. This is one of the most complete, as it is 
also one of the largest, sugar refineries in the world, 
and has earned its enterprising founder both fame and 
fortune. It is constructed of the most durable 
material, only brick and iron being used in the several 
buildings. The filter-house is twelve stories high ; 
other buildings in the works are ten stories. The walls 
taper from three feet at the base, to sixteen inches at 
the top, and form a landmark on the Bay. Over seven 
million bricks were used in their construction. There 
are three main structures, having a frontage to the Bay 
of about 400 feet. The entire plant is lighted by- 
electricity. Every mechanical device for economizing 
labor and perfecting the refining process is in use in 
this great refinery. The barrel factory is outside the 
refinery. The laboratory, machine shop, warehouse and 
wharves are in keeping with the general plan and 
requirements of this establishment, which was com- 
pleted and in operation in January, 1883, at a cost of 
about $2,000,000. The ship and railroad car meet at 
the spacious wharves of the California Refinery on the 
Potrero. The daily capacity is equal to about 1,500,000 
pounds, and it employ's over 600 men, not to speak of 
the army of skilled labor for which it makes employ- 
ment in dependent industries. 

At this point it may be well to refer briefly to the 



)5(W CAlJFOkNlA COLD noOK. 

development of the sugar industry on the Hawaiian 
Islands consequent upon Mr. Sprcckels' identification 
with that country, and which has been of such vast 
benefit to the trade and commerce of San Francisco 
and the entire Pacific coast. During 1ST6, the first 
Hawaiian treaty year, the total foreign trade of the 
islands was $4,0^2,811; during 1890, the last year in 
which the islands enjoyed the special advantages of 
the treaty in the sugar product, the total value of 
exports and imports were $19,985,505, and this 
enormous development in fourteen 3'ears is almost 
exclusively to be credited to the enterprise of Claus 
Spreckels, who invested not less than §5, 000,000 on the 
islands in permanent improvements, irrigating canals, 
railroad, mills, etc., besides establishing a first-class 
steamship service and freight line between ISan Fran- 
cisco and Honolulu. The sugar export from the 
islands in 1876 aggregated 26,072,429 pounds ; and in 
1890 it aggregated 259,798,462 pounds, whilst in 1891, 
274,983,580 pounds of sugar were exported to San 
Francisco and handled at the California Sugar 
Refinery. Mr. Spreckels owns the largest sugar plan- 
tation in the world. It is located on the Island of 
Maui, one of the Hawaiian group; he also owns other 
phmtations on these islands which yield one-half of the 
total output of sugar, and has a contract with the 
planters for the other half of the product for a long 
term of years. Ninety percent, of the Hawaiian trade 
is with the United States, and practically it may be 
said with San Francisco. 

The business enterprise of Claus Spreckels by sea 
and land built up American industries and developed 
American trade and commerce. American tonnage 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 365 

(either on the American register or built on the Pacific 
coast for Hawaiian owners) has been used almost 
exclusively in the Hawaiian trade since 1876. There 
have been built on the Pacific coast, mainly at San 
Francisco, for the Hawaiian trade since the reciprocity 
treaty went into operation, twenty-one sailing vessels, 
with an aggregate of about 8,000 tons, and for the 
inter-island trade, on the Hawaiian register, twenty- 
three sailing and fourteen steam vessels. The total 
cost was about $2,000,000, of which total 50 per cent, 
was for wages. In addition to this John D. Spreckels 
& Bros, built at San Francisco five of their steamtug 
fleet; the latest addition, the " Fearless," being the 
largest, best-equipped and most powerful tug in the 
world, constructed entirely of steel at the Union Iron 
Works. These tugs cost over $250,000. In addition 
to these San Francisco built tugs, Messrs. Spreckels 
also built the ocean-going steamships Alameda and 
Mariposa, emplo3^ed on the Australian mail service, at 
a cost of $1,000,000, at Cramp & Sons' ship-yard, 
Philadelphia; also the steamship Kinau, for the inter- 
island trade, and one steamtug at Messrs. Cramps' 
yard, at a total cost of $360,000 ; bought two first-class 
Clyde-built ocean-going steamships at a cost of 
$500,000 for the Australian and Hawaiian trade, one 
of which is now under the Hawaiian flag; built a 700 
ton steamship at Glasgow for the inter-islands trade, 
besides building a steamtug at San Francisco for 
services at Honolulu. The annual expenditure for 
wages at San Francisco in shipping employed almost 
exclusively in the Hawaiian trade, exceeds $500,000 ; 
the additional outlay for supplies is also very large. 
The capital invested in building and equipping steam 



366 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

and sailing vessels for this trade has been at least 
$■±,000,000. This expenditure has been made in large 
part by Mr. Spreckels and the commercial enterprises 
with which he is identified and controls, and is perhaps 
unequaled in the histor\' of commercial development 
in any jiart of the world as the work of one man. 

Returning to the sugar enterprises of the Sugar 
King, we find this gentleman visiting Europe in 1887 
to again investigate the beet sugar business. His 
investigation was thorough, including every detail 
from the field to the factory. He shipped several tons 
of sugar beet seed to California, which was distributed 
free, and experimental plantings were made m various 
districts. Being satisfied with the results of these 
experiments, Mr. Spreckels bought a beet sugar plant 
in Germany, embodying the latest processes of manu- 
facture, and erected it at Watsonville, Santa Cruz 
county, having organized the Western Beet Sugar 
Company. It was started on October 20, 1888, and 
was so successful that its capacity was doubled in 1892. 
This factory made about 6,000 tons of beet sugar in 
the campaign of 1892, and has been the means of 
enriching the farmers of the fertile Pajaro and Salinas 
valleys, by making a certain market for a new agri- 
cultural product, which nets them an average of $50 
per acre, and is capable of indefinite expansion. This 
practical experiment demonstrated the fact tliat beet 
sugar could be produced on a large scale in California 
under favorable fiscal conditions, despite the high {)rice 
of land, labor and money ; and wlien the sugar duty 
was repealed by the McKinley tariff, was the cause of 
inducing Congress to provide for the payment of an 
eepiivalent bounty on the home product. Tlie beet 



CALIFORNIA GOID BOOK. S(j7 

sugar industry of the United States, as well as the 
cane sugar industry of the South, owed this to Claus 
Spreckels. 

But this remarkable man founu, after the first year's 
trial, that he could not depend entirely upon the 
farmers for the necessary supply of beets, and he leased 
a large ranch in the neighborhood of Watsonvillc, upon 
which he planted and harvested 1,200 acres of sugar 
beets in the season of 1892. Another material draw- 
back was the cost of transportation of beets and fuel 
to the factory, and of the sugar to San Francisco for 
refining. The Watsonville factory was heavily handi- 
capped by the freight rates of the Southern Pacific 
railroad, and frequently the farmers could not get their 
beets shipped to the factory for weeks at a time. Mr. 
Spreckels determined to change these conditions. With 
his proverbial energy he organized the Pajaro Valley 
Railroad Company, secured a deepwater shipping point 
at Moss Landing, and built and equipped twenty-five 
miles of narrow gauge steel railroad, with side tracks 
over his Morocojo ranch. This railroad enables all the 
farmers in Pajaro and Salinas valleys to ship their 
beets to the factory, and gives them an outlet to a 
shipping point on the coast for their wheat and other 
produce, thus saving the long and expensive haul to 
San Francisco by the Southern Pacific. These joint 
enterprises called for an expenditure of close on 
12,000,000 by Mr. Spreckels ; and the effect has been 
to enrich the district, and establish on a firm basis a 
great national industry. The Watsonville Beet Sugar 
Factory is the foundation and cause of the beet sugar 
industry of the United States, and Claus Spreckels was 
its founder and exponent. The Watsonville Beet Sugar 



368 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Factory is the best equipped enterprise of the kind in 
the world, as Mr. Spreckels has added several import- 
ant improvements in the sugar making process; and 
the farm operations in planting and harvesting the 
beets on his great rancli have been rendered almost 
perfect by the use of labor saving machiner}', several 
of the most useful being originated on the spot. In 
all about 14,000 tons of beet sugar have been made at 
Wuisonville since the factory started. Claus Spreckels, 
in 1880, organized the Occidental Beet Sugar Company, 
with a capital of $5,000,000, of which he and his son, 
John D. Spreckels, subscribed $2,500,000; but owing 
to the great industrial struggle in which he was then 
engaged with the sugar trust, no active work was done 
by this organization, and since his victory over the 
trust in 1892. and return to California, he has con- 
tented himself with doubling the capacity of the Wat- 
sonville factory and promoting beet culture. 

Perhaps the most notable enterprise Claus Spreckels 
ever engaged in was his fight against the sugar trust, 
because it involved an industrial and linancial cam- 
paign against the combined and organized sugar inter- 
ests of the United States outside of San Francisco, and 
fixed the attention of the commercial worid for years. 
The sugar trust was organized in 1887, with a capital 
of $50,000,000, and wiien Claus Spreckels refused to 
join the monopoly and surrender control of his own 
business, the trust bought the American Suga; 
llefinery at San Francisco from certain Hawaiian 
planters, who began operating it with their own sugar 
on his refusal to contract to buy it, and started a war 
upon the California Sugar Kelinery at its headquarters. 
This was in 1887-88. The challenge was accepted by 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 369 

Mr. Spreckels, who proceeded to the East, aiul after 
carefully studying the situation, bought a site on 
the Delaware river at Philadelphia, and there built the 
largest and most complete sugar refinery in the world. 
The corner-stone was laid on the 29th of October, 

1888, and the great refinery was ready for operation 
in thirteen months. Considering the magnitude of the 
work, and the fact that the factory and wharves were 
capable of accommodating twelve of the largest ocean- 
going vessels at one time, and that they were erected 
on made ground, it was a feat in building which has 
never been approached, either before or since, in the 
United States or elsewhere. Nine acres of ground 
were covered by the Spreckels refinery at Philadelphia, 
consisting of twelve enormous buildings, ten and 
twelve stories high ; and on the 10th of December, 

1889, Claus Spreckels, the Sugar King, opened the 
campaign against the sugar trust in the East, and con- 
tinued the war until 1892, when the trust capitulated, 
buying out his Eastern interests and leaving him in 
undisputed possession of the territory west of the Mis- 
souri river. The construction of the machinery for the 
Philadelphia refinery and the building was superin- 
tended by Mr. Spreckels personally, and one or the 
other of his sons. The cost of this great enterprise 
involved an outlay of $5,000,000, which fact demon- 
strates the vast resources of " the Sugar King," when 
the enormous sums invested in his other enterprises by 
land and sea, in California and on the Hawaiian islands, 
ai-e considered. It is only necessary to add that mean- 
while the An^erican refinery of the trust had been 
absorbed by the California Refinery Company, and 
that the Western Kefinery Company was organized 



370 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

after the amalgamation. The California Sugar Refin- 
ery, built, organized and managed by Glaus Spreckels, 
occupies the field exclusively under its new name on 
the Pacific coast and as far east as the Missouri river, 
and has the absolute control of all the sugar product of 
the Hawaiian islands. 

It now remains to note the great commercial firm of 
J. D. Spreckels & Bros., which was founded in 1880 to 
transact a general shipping and commission business, 
and became incorporated in 1891. This firm, which is 
now the leading mercantile house on the Pacific coast, 
began its shipping enterprise with a two hundred ton 
schooner. Other sailing vessels were soon added to 
the pioneer craft, and in 1881 the Oceanic Steamshi[) 
Company was organized with Mr. John D. Spreckels 
as president, Mr. A. B. Spreckels, treasurer, and the 
firm of J. D. Spreckels & Bros, as general agents. 
They at once set to work to develop Hawaiian trade, 
as their distinguished father hadaleady set about devel- 
oping its sugar industry. Orders were given to Cramp 
& Sons, Philadelphia, to build two three thousand ton 
iron steamships for the island trade, and without loss 
of time the "'Mariposa" and the "Alameda" were 
built and put in connnission. Meanwhile two steam- 
ships were chartered by the firm, and a fortnightly 
service to Honolulu was established. At this time the 
Pacific Mail steamers were performing the Australian 
mail service, and an arrangement between the two 
companies was come to regarding the Honolulu trade 
which was mutually satisfactory. 

This state of things continued until 1885, when the 
Pacific Mail Company withdrew from the Australian 
route, and the Oceanic Company took it up. It had 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 371 

serious opposition, however, on the route, as !Sir Wm. 
Pearce, the wealthy English shipbuilder and owner of 
the "Zealandia" and "Australia," which had been 
employed under the Pacific Mail contract continued 
to run his ships between San Francisco and Australia, 
touching at Honolulu and Auckland. Claus Spreckels 
saw that this opposition must be got rid of in the inter- 
est of the Oceanic Company. Accordingly he bought 
the steamships from Sir. Wm. Pearce by telegraph for 
$500,000, and expended about $350,000 additional in 
repairs and equipments on them at San Francisco. The 
" Australia " has since been admitted to American 
register. The " Alameda," " Mariposa " and " Zealan- 
dia " carried the Australian mail from that date up to 
1891, when the '' Zealandia " was withdrawn at the 
request of the New Zealand government, and a British 
steamship took her place. It was owing to the patriot- 
ism and enterprise of Claus Spreckels, however, that 
American commerce is now, and has been represented 
on the South Pacific, since 1885 ; and it is also 
due to that gentleman and his enterprising sona that San 
Francisco stands at the head of American ports in the 
employment of American ships in its foreign trade. 
The manufactures, trade and commerce of San Fran- 
cisco owes more to the enterprise, business capacity 
and integrity of Claus Spreckels individually, and the 
now incorporated firm of J. D. Spreckels & Bros., than 
to all other local agencies combined. This firm trans- 
acts the largest import and commission business on the 
Pacific coast, and its credit is established anel respected 
throughout the commercial world. 

J. D. Spreckels & Bros, own a fleet of six powerful 
steamtugs at San Francisco, fitted with every life-sp.-:- 



373 CALIfOKNIA GOLD BOOK. 

ino- and wrecking appliance. Reference has already 
been made to these unequaled aids to commerce and 
shipping. Whenever practicable Messrs, Spreckols 
i;ive contracts for machinery and ships to San Francisco 
firms. They also own a line of sailing vessels to Hono- 
lulu, and in their various enterprises employ over 
3,000 men, and it is due to Claus Spreckels to say that 
while he has had men in his employ for thirty years, 
there has never been a strike or a man discharged 
except for cause. 

J, D. Spreckels & Bros, also established a commer- 
cial company at San Diego, where they have built 
extensive wharves and coal bunkers, having a capacity 
of 13,000 tons. They control the Coronado Beach Com- 
pany, while Mr. Adolph B. Spreckels owns the electric 
and belt railroad at San Diego, The firm is also build- 
ing the Coos Bay and Roseburg railroad in Oregon, a 
standard gauge of 100 miles. 

Mr. Claus Spreckels owns a ranch of 4,000 acres au 
Aptos, Santa Cruz county, on which he has erected a 
handsome mansion, and where a breeding farm has 
been established under the supervision of Mr. A. B, 
Spreckels. In short there is scarcely a branch of 
industrial development or line of commercial enter- 
prise with which Claus Spreckels, " the Sugar King," 
and his sons are not indentified on the Pacific coast, 
and every enterprise they identify themselves with 
succeeds. 

In special lines, by way of summing up, the sugar 
refining and beet sugar industries of California have 
been practically founded and built up by Claus Spreck- 
els. To him also the Hawaiian kingdom owes its 
industrial development and financial stability. In 1884, 



CALIFORXIA GOLD BOOK. S73 

when it became imperative for tiie Hawaiian govern- 
ment to establish a national currency and retire the 
depreciated silver coins in circulation, which had been 
introduced from Peru and other South American coun- 
tries for speculative purposes, Claus Spreckels bought 
this token money, and at his own risk had dies made 
and one million Kalakaua dollars coined at San Fran- 
cisco, in silver, of like weight and fineness as the Amer- 
ican standard dollar, and shipped the money to Hono. 
lulu. He also subscribed for $500,000 of Hawaiian 
national bonds, established a commercial house and 
banking firm at Honolulu, and as necessity required 
made advances to the Hawaiian government for public 
purposes, charging only legal interest, although the 
advances were of ten made without guarantee for repay- 
ment. No other man identified with the Hawaiian 
islands has done one-tenth part as much as Claus 
Spreckels in developing the resources, placing Hawaiian 
finance on a sound basis, and saving its business men 
from the burden of onerous and oppressive exchange. 
For this last mentioned service he encounterea the 
enmity of those who had profited by these unreasonable 
exactions, but on the other i)and he enjoyed the satis- 
faction of benefiting the bulk of the trading classes, 
while breaking down a crushing monopoly. 

To the firm of J. D. Spreckles & Bros, is due the 
development of the foreign trade of San Francisco. 
Whilst the China and Japan trade was diverted to the 
port of Vancouver, by the Canadian Pacific, British 
competition on the Australian route was removed by 
this firm, as already narrated, and the Hawaiian trade 
became wholly identified with the commerce of the 
Golden Gate through Messrs. Sprecktils' enterprise a<nd 



374 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

business sagacity. Tliey also expended large sums in 
shipbuilding, etc., at San Francisco, thereby employing 
skilled labor and helping to build up other brances of 
manufacture. In southern California they have main- 
tained the supremacy of American shipping, as their 
enterprise at the port of San Diego demonstrates. In 
short, the Messrs. Sprsckels are merciiant princes, whose 
great wealth has been acquired by legitimate business, 
in the employment of labor and the promotion of enter- 
prises of public utility and necessity, and their high 
reputation, which extends throughout the world of trade 
and commerce, is especially the heritage of California 
where it has been made. 



^OTEL DEL CORONADO A^D CORONADO 
BEACH. Among the facts next to impossible 



of belief is that one in regard to the lively and beautiful 
town of Coronado, wilh its three thousand inhabitants, 
and metropolitan improvements. In 1885 it was appar- 
ently an island in the ocean, but in fact was an arm of 
land, just above sea level, extending down between San 
Diego bay and the ocean, the western point reaching 
within half a mile or so of the promontory upon which 
is situated tlie government light at Point Loma, and 
which is the highest marine light in the world. It was 
then utterly without human habitation, even to a 
fisherman's hut, and was covered with unsightly shrub- 
bery. It was about this time that the completion of 
the Santa Fe railroad to San Diego inspired five enter- 
prising citizens with a belief that this barren spot 
might be utilized, E. S. Babcock, Joseph Collett, 
Jacob Gruendike, Heber Inglo and TI. L. Story formed 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 375 

a corporation, and obtained title to the " Nortli and 
South islands" as they were called. These were all 
men of expanded ideas, and with entire confidence in 
the practical views of E. S. Babcock, vvho had been 
made president of the combination. In 1886 the first 
ground was broken, and the grand system of improve- 
ment commenced. What these included, the more than 
350,000 visitors, composed of the best citizens of every 
land under the shining sun, can well understand. The 
first sale of lots took place in November, 1886. Ground 
was broken for the Hotel del Coronado in February, 
1887, and in February, 1888, it was opened for tourists, 
with a railroad running from the hotel over this narrow 
arm, more than six miles easterly to the mainland, and 
thence to San Diego, the whole distance being about 
fifteen miles. A motor road was constructed to the 
ferry, about a mile and a half, and boats conveyed 
passengers across the bay to San Diego. The town of 
Coronado was laid out, with the most generous 
provision for streets, which are wide enough to deserve 
the name of broadway for every one of them. Forty 
thousand shade trees were planted. The San Diego 
Union describes these as " the tropical palm, the sweet 
smelling orange, the dark hued olive, the resinous 
cypress and pine, the historical fig, the graceful pepper 
and the towering eucalyptus." In the center of the 
island, on either side of Orange avenue, the principal 
thoroughfare which connects the ferry with the hotel 
is a pretty park abounding in a variety of the plants 
and flowers which this region is so prolific in producing. 
Boulevards have been constructed to the south and east 
for three miles along the beach, and to North island in 
the opposite direction, from which diverging roadways 



3'?6 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

through the shrubbery afford an endlesf. change of 
scenic bits and views. 

The parent corapanj'^ was the Coronado Beach 
Company. Since its organization the Coronado Water 
Company lias been formed, and has piped distilled 
water to every lot in the place. In 1890 a mineral 
spring, flowing a great quantity of water of medicinal 
value, and known and appreciated throughout the 
United States, was discovered, and necessitated the 
formation of the Coronado Mineral Water Company. 
The water is bottled at Coronado Heights, near the 
mineral spring, on the mainland, and is shipped every- 
where in large quantities. Several other companies, 
all integral parts of the parent company, have been 
formed, and are in active operation, as the Coronado 
Railroad Company with its twenty-five miles of road, 
and the San Diego & Coronado Ferry Company, with 
two capacious steamers^ 

Beautiful as all else is, it is the Hotel del Coronado 
which attracts the thousands to this Eden by the sea. 
It covers more ground than any hotel in the world, 
and possesses more attractive features than can be 
claimed by any other dozen resorts on the known 
earth, and out of nearly half a million visitors not one 
has ever been known to discover a feature in house, 
cuisine, management or location, about which a 
complaint could be framed. One distinguished visitor 
says it is a " marvelous institution ;" another that it is 
" unrivaled in the w^orld ;" and a third that it is '' the 
finest I have ever seen, and I have seen them all." 
The California Gold Book ranks it with what it imag- 
ines Paradise to be, and believes that one could dream 
away all of life reclining on the surf-washed gallery, 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. %n*X 

and watching the tireless waves roll in with their 
stores of ferns and grasses from the islands of the ocean. 
It is an existence of which one never tires; for the view 
changes with every moment, and is always grand and 
enchanting. It is the spot in which to commune with 
the Creator, and acknowledge the unlimited extent of 
His power. Like it there is none other, and the wonder 
is not that so many return again and again to the lotus- 
scented atmosphere, but that they can ever summon 
the determination to leave at all. 

In 1890 John D. Spreckels bought out the interest of 
Mr. H. L. Story in all the varied concerns of the Coro- 
nado Beach Company, and became president thereof, 
with E. S, Babcock vice president and general man- 
ager. Prior to that the Spreckels Brothers Commer- 
cial Company had been established at San Diego, and 
their immense wharf and coal bunkers nearly com- 
pleted. In the construction of wharf, coal bunkers and 
warehouse, Spreckels & Company expended over 
$200,000, and what is very characteristic of this family, 
and very unusual in the improvement of harbor prop- 
erty which is certain to conduce to the benefit of State 
and National governments, no application was made 
for help from either to the extent of one cent. These 
gentlemen determined what would answer the require- 
ments of their own vast and growing commercial 
business, and expended mone}^ of their own therefor, 
making everything as strong and capacious ns any 
Government engineer would have considered needful. 
The wharf is 3,500 feet long. Its width gradually' 
becomes greater as it runs out from the shore, com- 
mencing with fifty feet and terminating with seventy- 
five feet at the twentv-six foot water line. It will 



378 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

accommodate eight of the largest vessels afloat. It was 
built at a cost of over $90,000, The coal bunkers on 
the wharf have a capacity of 13,000 gross tons. They 
are 650 feet long, thirty feet wide and thirty feet in 
depth. The machinery is of the most modern and best 
improved type, and in point of efficiency second to 
none in America. The wharf is situated at the foot of 
G street, and has a track connecting it with the 
southern California railroad. Ships are unloaded 
directly into the cars, which may be either emptied 
into the company's large warehouse, or forwarded to 
the interior or the East, as occasion may demand. 
The work was completed in good time, and in the 
most thorough manner, and is ready for the uses of 
the National navy should a sudden emergency render 
its use necessary. 

No member of the Spreckels family, father or sons, 
has ever been known to make a business mistake. 
When John D. and Adolph Spreckels diverted a very 
heavy capital in the neighborhood of twomillion dollars, 
to the improvement of San Diego and Coronado, and 
so soon after the collapse of the boom, a belief in the 
recuperative power of that section was engendered, 
and every interest took on new life. Besides the 
great impetus given commercial interests on the wharf, 
anjd the assurance that the Coronado Beach Company 
would never lack funds for its greatest and most rapid 
development, the Spreckels brothers bought out the 
street railroad companies, and have been spending 
fortunes in making them ample for all the require- 
ments of the growing city. Nearly all the horse 
car roads have been changed into electric lines, and 
are beiijo- extended to the city limits as fast or faster 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 379 

than these are settHng up. Capt. Charles T. Hindes, 
of the Commercial Company, not only has general 
supervision of that great interest, but is the right hand 
of the Spreckels brothers in executing their gigantic 
plans for the improvement of San Diego, its land- 
locked harbor, and Coronado Beach. To return to 
Coronado Beach an extract from the San Diego 
[Jnion's great annual for January 1, 1893, may well 
close this article. 

The North island (1,300 acres) is yet intact, and is 
owned by the Coronado Beach Company. Part of it 
is under cultivation, while the rest of it makes an 
excellent coursing ground for rabbits. A rine pack 
of greyhounds is owned by the hotel, and this makes 
one of the most attractive features of the sports the 
hotel guests are privileged to enjoy. Here vast fields 
of grain wave, fanned by the breath of the salt sea 
spray. Here, too, are situated the marine ways capa- 
ble of lifting large ships out of the water for repairs. 
Here, too, is the proposed site for the big military post, 
than which a more appropriate or commanding posi- 
tion does not exist. The drive back from the kennels 
or the company's barns is one of great beauty, and is a 
favorite one with horseback parties. The hotel, seen 
from this drive, with the curling breakers lapping- 
its terraces on one side and the variegated shrubbery 
on the other sides forming a setting for this 
gem, makes a pretty foreground, while the cottages 
scattered over South island, with the distant hills 
beyond Glorietta bay in the background, completes a 
pleasing picture indeed. There is nothing palatial about 
the houses on Coronado Beach ; nothmg pretentious 
either; but there is an air of comfort, of neigh borliness 



:J80 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

and of open-hearted ness in the quaint styles of archi- 
tecture, the fenceless grounds and the open doors 
which is inviting, and the feeling of being a stranger 
in a strange land never assails the visitor to Coronado. 
Among tliose who have built here are Captain Charles 
T. Hindes, resident partner and manager of the Spreckels 
Commercial Company ; J. Malcolm Forbes, the Bos- 
ton capitalist and owner of America's famous trotting 
queen, oSTancy Hanks ; Ciiarles Nordhoff, who had all 
the world to choose a home in ; K. H. Wade, general 
manager of the Santa Fe system in southern Califor 
nia, whose office is in Los Angeles , General T. 
E. Webb, a mining capitalist, and many other 
wealthy people from the East. Many others from 
the Atlantic States have bought lots here, and will 
build on them later, allured by beauties indescribable, 
and a climate which permits surf bathing every day 
in the entire year. 



;^ENRY MILLER.— One of the strangest pro- 
blems connected with the marvelous growth 
of the various important industries in California is the 
small number of men whose courage, energy and 
genius have made the State remarkable throughout 
the extent of the globe. Outside of a mere handful of 
wonderful men, those who have helped foward the car 
of progress have been mere instruments in the hands 
of those who conceived the projects, and urged 
their followers to execute the vast measures they had 
conceived. 

Very few have any positive knowledge of what has 
been accomplished in improving the " cattle upon a 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 381 

thousand hills " and scattered over the plains of the 
world. Every one has been impressed with the idea 
that England held the first place as a producer of prime 
beef. It has been less than three times the years of 
California Statehood since the average weight of beef 
cattle slaughtered in Liverpool was under 370 pounds. 
What must have been the average weight of cattle in 
California prior to the discovery of gold, up to which 
time cattle were only useful for the hide, horns and 
hoofs ? A very few attempts had been made by Boston 
skippers to improve the herds of practically wild cattle 
in California, by introducing a few American cattle on 
every trip to the Pacific coast. The object was not to 
obtain a better quality of beef, but a greater weight 
of hide, and a possible quantity of tallow. It was such 
herds as these that astonished the American pioneers 
in 1S49, and made them despair of having a supply 
of beef and any taste of milk and butter, until such 
time as real domestic cattle could be driven across the 
plains. 

To no man is civilization so much indebted for the 
high rank California holds as a meat producer as to 
Henry Miller. A brief sketch of his business career 
will prove an object lesson of inestimable value to 
every young man who is determined to succeed. 

Health and courage are prime necessities in the 
beginning, and even these will prove worthless unless 
accompanied by sterling integrity, indomitable pluck, 
and a determination never to neglect an appointment, 
nor defer until to-morrow what can and ought to be 
done to-day. These qualities Henry Miller possessed 
in their entirety, and to a strict observance of these 
simple rules he owes his wonderful success. 



38a CALU'ORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Henry Miller was born in Brackenheim, Kingdom of 
Wurtenburg, July 21, 1828. His early education was 
attended to in the schools of his native place, and while 
thorough was not extended. His father was a master 
butcher, and before his teens young Miller was drilled 
to know the good points of animals intended for food, 
and was frequently intrusted with the important duty 
of selecting and purchasing animals for his father's 
market. At the age of nineteen, he arrived in New 
York, and for a considerable time was emplo3'ed about 
Washington and other New York markets, giving 
entire satisfaction to every employer, because he never 
shirked any tluty. The pay, however, and the 
opportunities to expand, w^ere inadequate to his 
ambition, and his resolute belief in what he would be 
able to accomplish. California seemed to promise 
exactly the field required by his abilities, and to Cali- 
fornia he came, arriving in San Francisco in 1850, with 
exactly six dollars in cash. Hedid not idle one day, nor 
was he attracted towards the mines by the allurement 
of gold. He found employment at his trade, worked 
with energy, and saved every dollar not absolutely 
required for his support. Living was high, and very 
poor meals cost a dollar each. 

In June, 1851, Mr. Miller concluded that he had 
sufficient capital to warrant his commencing business 
for himself. He opened a shop on Dupont street, and 
began supplying customers with beef, mutton and 
pork. The latter was then selling at fifty cents per 
pound, and very frequently was not procurable except 
at the market of Mr. Miller. He was compelled to buy 
supplies sparingly, but there was a large profit in all 
the meats he handled, due mainly to the rare ability he 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 383 

possessed of knowing how cattle, sheep and hogs would 
dress, and almost absolutely what per cent, of live 
weight would be sacrificed in the operation. 

In 1853 his six dollars capital had increased until he 
was able to pay Livingston & Kincaid $33,000 cash for 
300 American cattle, averaging 800 pounds per head. 
This deal enabled him to begin wholesaling, and his 
stock was handed over to marketmen at $18 and $20 
per 100 pounds. 

In 1857, in copartnership with Charles Lux, Mi'. 
Miller bought 1,600 fine Texas steers at $67.50 pur 
head. The profit on this venture was so satisfactory 
that Mr. Lux sold out his share a few months later, and 
concluding he had enough went East in the spring 
of 1858. He came back in September of the same 
year, and the firm of Miller & Lux, known most favor- 
ably in financial circles the world over, was consum- 
mated. This firm existed until the death of Charles 
Lux, In its early days the firm purchased 2,000 head 
of cattle on speculation, and placed them on rented 
pastures. The cost was so great and the business 
was becoming so immense that Mr. Miller determined 
that the firm ought to own its own pasture lands. 
Individually he bought a part of the Bloomfield ranch, 
amounting to 1,700 acres, and increased his purchases 
there until he had 13,000 acres. This is called the 
home place, near Gilroy, in Santa Clara county. 

Miller & Lux also began purchasing large bodies of 
land. The firm had been paying as high as $1 per acre 
rent for pasturage, and the Santa Kita ranch, on the 
San Joaquin river, containing 8,835 acres, was pur- 
chased for about $1.25 per acre, and with it 7,500 head 
of cattle at $5 per head. The firm also purchased the 



384 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Tequesquite and Loma Muertas ranches in Monterey 
and San Benito counties, and continued adding tracts 
until it owned about 48,400 acres located in eleven 
different counties, and procured at an average cost of 
$4 per acre. All the land owned by Mr. Miller and 
the late firm of Miller & Lux was choice, and some of 
the Bloomfield ranch and the Santa Eita ranch have 
been sold at $150 to $500 per acre, and considerable 
more could be subdivided and sold at more than $500 
per acre. The company also owned tracts of valuable 
pasture land in Nevada and Oregon. 

Miller & Lux had, at the death of the latter, not less 
than 100,000 cattle and more than 80,000 sheep. The 
number can only be given approximately. They are 
located on the various tracts of land owned by the 
firm, though an average of 20,000 sheep per year are 
fattened for the San Francisco market, and the sales of 
beef and mutton in this market by this firm will 
aggregate about $1,500,000 per year. Besides, when- 
ever there is garbage for hogs, large droves of these 
are raised, and great care is taken to improve the 
breeds of all the animals used for food. 

By the efforts of Mr. Miller and his followers, the 
meat industry has grown to immense proportions, ^y 
careful estimate, San Francisco uses one hundred and 
seventy-five million pounds of fresh meat every year, 
and about fifteen million pounds are exported from 
San Francisco alone. The State contains over a million 
neat cattle, ten million sheep and two million swine. 

As stated, Henry Miller arrived in San Francisco 
with six dollars cash capital, and an amount repre- 
sented by energy, courage, and unswerving integrity, 
upon which no estimate can justly be founded. Re- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOIC. 38.') 

duced to dollars and cents it would appear immense. 
By careful management, and industry which never 
rested, this capital has been increased in less than forty 
years to a cash value of probably fifteen i/iillion dol- 
lars, and the sterling integrity, courage, and energy 
have lost nothing by use. Mr. Miller possesses fine 
judgment, and the ability to decide any question 
instantly, and the courage to stand by his decision to 
the end. He is one of those rare men whose bare 
word is a bond. Many times, after a day of severe 
labor, he has rode all night simply to keep an appoint- 
ment. In the management of such vast affairs a small 
army of subordinates has been requisite, and these 
have always been treated with such frank courtesy 
that there has never been an important clash between 
him and his employes. 

It is said that labor is practical prayer. Mr. Miller 
has been engaged in earnest devotion every day of his 
life since he was ten years old. His prayers have been 
answered most bountifully. He has found no time for 
what the idle style recreation. When his immediate 
interests have not commanded his exertions, mental 
and physical, the great interests of the State, such as 
irrigation, have received the support of his money and 
genius ; and in this direction he has changed at least ' 
100,000 acres of practically barren waste into the most 
productive soil in the State. His own home at Bloom- 
field is an improved garden of Eden, and lovely beyond 
the dream of the most luxurious Oriental. Through 
all economic care has governed, and the waste for 
which wealthy Americans are noted is nowhere appai- 
ent. In everything — courage, integrity, energy and 
constant watchfulness — he has been a wise example, 



3«6 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK'. 

and it will be well for California and the country at 
large if the lesson of his successful life is even partially 
learned and followed by those who are to succeed hina. 
The domestic relations of Mr. Miller have been of 
the happiest and most satisfactory kind. In 1858 he 
married Miss Naney Wilmot, sister of his partner's 
wife. She lived but a short time, dying in 1859. 
Thirteen months later he married Miss Sarah Wilmot 
Sheldon, neice of his deceased wife. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

WOMAN IN FRUIT GROWING. 

The genuine lover of the human family rejoices 
greatly when a new avenue is opened, for the cul- 
tivation of the best ambitions of women. Chief among 
the many advantages resulting from the discovery of 
gold in California, is that cosmopolitan principle in 
society which has tended to develop in women, as well 
as men, the power to lead and direct others in almost 
all industrial enterprises, and especially in the import- 
ant line of fruit production. In that they have shown 
their fitness to a remarkable degree. In every detail 
from preparing theground, selecting the trees and vines, 
pruning, cultivating, and superintending the picking, 
packing, shipping and marketing of the product, they 
have been granted no advantage over their brothers, 
and yet they have proved that it was exactly the call- 
ing suited to the peculiarities of their genius, and in 
every case, so far as we can learn, they have proved 
pre eminently successful. The experience of three 
female fruit growers will sufficiently emphasize the 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 387 

truth of this position, and we hope may incite others 
to attempt what has been generally deemed a line of 
labor for which man alone was adapted. 

Nine or ten years ago Mrs. Elise P. Buckingham 
found herself a resident of the Palace Hotel, with 
plenty of money to meet reasonable wants, and scarcely 
any time that was not required for the round of 
social duties exacted of a cultured, refined and fashion- 
able woman, with a large number of intimate friends 
in the highest classes in the first literary and social 
circles stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
oceans. Mrs. Buckingham is of Scotch origin, a mem- 
ber of one of the most noted families in the East, her 
grandmother, Martha Hamilton, havingbeen a descend- 
ant of the Duke of Hamilton, and married to an 
ofRcer in the Revolutionary war. The old family 
homestead was known as Sir William Johnston's Hall 
and is yet a show place finely preserved at Johnstown, 
Fulton County, New York. Mrs. Buckingham received 
a thorough education at the Ingham Institute, Le Roy, 
New York. She married there and removed to Janes- 
ville, Wisconsin, when she was yet in her teens, and 
soon after again removed, and this time to California. 
By instinct and culture, and those nice charming quali- 
ties which mark the refined lady; beauty of form and 
face, and possessing perfect health, she would be 
recognized in any assemblage as the one who would 
be the most sought after by the discerning. We men- 
tion these qualities in evidence that Mrs. Buckingham 
was a success in the favored position she occupied, and 
we know from random sketches which have been 
published from her pen, both in this country and 
Europe, that she would have been an equal success had 
she selected a literary or any other profession. 



388 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Nine years ago a talented son, T. Hugh Buckingham, 
was about ready to graduate from his scholastic studies, 
and would then demand something to do. In looking- 
around for an investment for her money, Mrs. Buck- 
ingham heard of a ranch near Vacaville, some fifty 
miles from San Francisco, which was in tlie market, 
and which might return a fair profit if divided up and 
sold in lots of smaller acreage. Vacaville, and, indeed, 
all of Solano county, then gave promise of being 
specially adapted to the profitable growth of fruit ; 
and it had become known throughout the East as send- 
ing the most luscious fruit to market earlier than any 
other locality in California. Before making the pur- 
chase, Mrs. Buckingham visited those owning adjoining 
lands, and bargained with them to take a portion of 
the purchase off her hands at prices which would give 
her a nice profit. The ranch was then a stubble field, 
a good crop of grain having just been harvested. 
There was a house on it with a history. About 1850 
it had been constructed in Kennebec, Maine, and 
shipped around Cape Horn to Benicia, California. In 
fact it was intended for four residences, one being a 
story and a half high, and the others one story. Jose 
Demetri Pena, a wealth}'^ Mexican, then owned the 
I'anch, and he j)urchased all four houses, hauled them 
to Laguna valley, and placed them end to end, making 
a building 125 feet long, and 18 feet wide in the widest 
part. A porch extended the entire length, and accord- 
ing to the fashion prevailing the only way of going 
from one room to another was by passing out to the 
porch Every room opened on the porch, and did not 
have a connecting door. Senor Pena was engaged in 
cattle raising, and later planted his ranch to grain. 



California gold book. 389 

He did plant a few vines of the old Mission variety, a 
few peach trees, ten or twelve pear trees, and half a 
dozen fig trees. These remained on the ranch when 
purchased by Mrs. Buckingham, and showed such won- 
derful growth and perfect health, being now thirty 
years old, that all her intentions in regard to the dis- 
position of her experimental purchase were changed. 

Soon after Mrs. Buckingham made this investment, 
she had a business conference with her son, who, though 
a mere lad, and wholly inexperienced in any class of 
farm or ranch work, was rich in courage and hope, and 
insisted that he and a much loved class associate of his 
own age, directed by his mother, could cultivate the 
ranch in fruit, and could make a greater profit than 
could be obtained from the would-be purchasers, besides 
giving him congenial and much desired employment. 
That was the course determined upon, and the whole 
ranch of about 400 acres was retained intact. Practical 
people gave an outside limit of five years in which Mrs. 
Buckingham and her college boy assistants would sink 
the capital invested, fail utterly, and, as the more brutal 
put it, find a home in the poor house. This was more 
than eight years ago. There has never been an interval 
when improvements were not in progress, and the pros- 
perity of every interest of the marvellously clean and 
well cultivated orchard and vineyard at high tide. The 
house was remodeled to accord with comfort and con- 
venience, the wheat fields plowed so deeply that they 
were practically subsoiled, and as many acres as possi- 
ble, year by year, placed in pears, prunes, apricots, 
nectarines, peaches and cherries. Twenty acres are in 
prunes, and more are to be planted. Twenty acres are 
in cherries, and about the same amount in pears. There 



3&0 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

are seventy acres of choice varieties of table grapes, 
and in seasons of average moisture these may be picked 
over three times, being really three crops. Most of the 
Lagunita rancho is in fruit. The crop of pears for this 
year — 1892 — netted clear of every conceivable expense, 
$196 per acre, and the trees are only about seven years 
old, and have barely begun to produce. Mrs. Bucking- 
ham sold eight pound boxes of cherries in the Chicago 
market, at a price which netted her $6 per box. This 
was because they were intelligently graded, artistically 
]mcked, and reached the market ahead of any others from 
any where. The pear venture was so satisfactory that 
forty-five acres additional were planted last fall. There 
does not seem to be any scent of " poorhouse " in these 
achievements. For two seasons young Mr. Buckingham 
has had charge in tiie main of the fruit interests, assisted 
by his whilom college mate, Mr. Hamilton Boyce, who 
is thoroughly in touch with the prosperity of the Lagu- 
nita rancho. 

Three years ago Mrs. Buckingham was offered nine 
hundred and thirty acres of partially improved land a 
little over a mile distant from her home, and separated 
from the Laguna valley by a hill of moderate size. 
She could buy it on time by mortgaging her own home 
to secure the payment of $100,000. Having never 
owed a dollar in her life, even a consideration of the 
proposition was approached with fear. Finally the 
bargain was closed, and was followed by three days of 
seclusion and anxiety. Then hope returned, and her 
plans for disposing of the tract were systematized. 
First the county surveyor cut it up into lots conven- 
ient for handling, and wide avenues were provided 
between each tract. When readv for the market it 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. Sdl 

was placed under the control of the most successful 
real estate firm in San Francisco. In six months this 
firm had found purchasers, independent of the exer- 
tions of Mrs. Buckingham, to the extent of $8,000 to 
$10,000, and at a cost to her of the latter sum. Then, 
as her son had assumed the management of the home 
vineyard and orchard. Mrs. Buckingham resumed con- 
trol of her investment, and up to this writing has 
found desirable purchasers for enough to pay off her 
indebtedness of $100,000, and leave her nearly 400 
acres and $25,000 as profit. 

A word here as to T. Hugh Buckingham, There 
can be no question of his transcendant natural ability, 
but nearly all his experience in fruit culture has been 
under the instruction and supervision of his gifted and en- 
ergetic mother. Not long ago he was selected by the Fruit 
Growers' Union to spend a season in the Chicago mar- 
ket, superintending and directing the great interests of 
the Union, and gathering data for the use of the Union 
in the future. Mr. A. T. Hatch, the best authority on 
fruits in California, which is exactly the same as saying 
the best in the world, has said that the knowledge and 
judgment of young Buckingham in regard to fruits 
was simply phenomenal, and he would rather depend 
upon his judgment than that of any older man in the 
State. 

The experience of Miss Sarah A. Bates, who owns 
forty-two acres of the most intelligently cultivated 
orchard and vineyard in Yaca valley, fits in here 
admirably. Miss Bates was born and educated in New 
York City, and spent several years in acquiring pro- 
ficiency in etching and other art matters in Chicago. 
She is thoroughly cultured and refined. She bought 



3da CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

her land of Mrs. Buckingham, adjoining eighty acres 
belonging to a relative. While the trees and vines on 
her own purchase were growing and required only a 
part of her attention, she found employment in her art 
in San Francisco, and earned enough to pay for a 
stylish span of horses and carriage. Now she oversees 
and directs all the work on these one hundred and 
twenty acres, and there is not a blade of grass visible 
ill the orchards, and not likely any under the leaves 
and clusters of grapes in the vineyard. She is not far 
past twenty years of age, but the cultivation of the 
fields under her control are as superior to some owned 
and managed by men in the same neighborhood as can 
well be conceived. 

We can add the experience of Mrs. Harriet Barrows, 
who purchased twenty acres of land near Mrs. Buck- 
ingham. She had no money left for trees, nor for the 
necessary cultivation of them till they came into bear- 
ing. She was a thorough housekeeper and a very 
superior cook. Her services in this direction readily 
commanded thirty dollars per month. Then, mort- 
gaging her land, she bought the necessary trees, and 
was sadly disappointed to find nine-tenths of all of 
them worthless. There was no repining. It simply 
meant a season more of servitude at the kitchen range, 
and the fruition of brilliant hopes a little longer 
deferred. It was two years before she could pronounce 
herself independent. Now she has a highly improved 
home paid for, her orchards and vines in bearing, and 
her income last season amounted to nearly $8,000, or 
about eight per cent, on a $2,000 per acre valuation of 
her land, besides her support while the crop was grow- 
ino- and beino: harvested. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 393 

We do not jDropose contending that all other females 
can do as well as these ladies have done. These have 
had the advice and encouragement of Mrs. Bucking- 
ham. They had bought their land from her and on 
her advice. She silently guaranteed to herself, saying- 
nothing to them, that they should succeed. Failure of 
any of those who purchased land of her would distress 
her as profoundly as it would them. It is a matter of 
principle and pride with her that the boundaries of 
land she has owned can be fixed by tlie passerby witli 
the utmost certainty, having no other guide than the 
superiority of the culture, and the air of generous 
prosperity pervading every visible interest. There are 
other well kept orchards and vineyards in Vaca and 
Laguna valleys. There are none that will compare 
with those superintended by these three ladies. It is 
not that male fruit growers have no faith in high cul- 
ture, and do not know the profit of having everything 
in apple-pie order. But the fact remains that the leaves 
are still green on the trees of the orchards well cul- 
tivated, \vhen they have gone to sleep for the winter 
where wild oats and grasses are sucking the vitality 
from the soil. 

In looks and bearing, Mrs. Buckingham is still young. 
We have briefly, too briefly, glanced at her valuable 
work. She is wonderfully capable of putting her 
experience in such form as will render it of use to 
members of her own sex, and not less to men wiio are 
ambitious to become model fruit growers. As the 
fruit interest enlarges, as it must enlarge, when all the 
millions of people in America have a chance to share 
in the glorious fruit products of California, such a work 
^ from the pen of Mrs. Buckingham would be as valuable 



394 CALIFORNIA COLD BOOK. 

to the many as her example lias been to those few who 
liave had the privilege of examining her home work. 
While work in the mines proves too arduous for women, 
and is an industry which must be prosecuted by men, 
requiring the strongest physical force, the development 
of the finer artistic pursuits, resulting from the dis- 
covery of precious metals, has shown women to be 
equal, if not superior, in all the avenues for the develop- 
ment of the vast resources of this wonderful country. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

IliiilGATION, 

The grandest discovery which has been made in 
California has been the scientific appHcation of 
water to everything whicli germinates in her prolific 
soil. The accepted idea the world over has been that 
water would wet the earth, but that it contained grand 
fertihzing qualities was outside of belief. The old ))adres 
liad crude notions in regai'd to it, and crude methotis 
for its appliciition ; but generally the operation was to 
drench the ground until it was as full of water as it 
would be after the heaviest and most prolonged down- 
pour from the olouds. They obtained results, though 
as inferior to those now produced as the areas treated 
were smaller than the vast acreage which the American 
culturists have reclaimed from arid wastes. 

T lie term "grandest discovery" is used ^.dvisedly. 
The discovery of gold constituted an epoch i:i ti;e life 
of civilization, progress and prosperity. The people of 
this generation are scarely capable of appreciating the 
magnitude of its influence. The yellow metal spread 
out over the earth, revivifying the iiopes and • 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 395 

aspirations of every living soul. It made achieve- 
ments possible which trench closely upon the 
miraculous. It unchained the imprisoned ambi- 
tions, and sent the life current throbbing through 
every vein of people so grand that they assimilate the 
likeness of gods, knowing good from evil. It made wars 
next to impossible by enabling man to construct engines 
of destruction so marvelously perfect that enlightened 
nations are afraid to combat, lest they become extinct 
on the map of the world. It multiplied universities 
and made civilized countries great houses of learning, 
broad and comprehensive as their uttermost limits. It 
set up monuments everywhere, marking the line 
between right and wrong. It emphasized the slow 
growth of the ages by strides forward as brilliant as 
flashes of light. It has enabled men and women to 
know their strength, and intelligently perform the 
duties with which they were burdened by the Creator, 
and the performance of which it has caused to become 
the loftiest human pleasures possible this side of 
heaven. These are some of the grand results which 
have evolved from the insignificant yellow nugget 
picked up by Marshall in a California canyon, and 
tested by Jennie Wimmer in a kettle of boiling soap 
on the 19th day of January, 1848. 

Then what was left for irrigation? The old maps 
designated the " Great American Desert." Its eastern 
limit started at a line running north from the Indian 
Territory, and cleaving Kansas, Nebraska, and the 
grand principality now called the Dacotas. It included 
almost every foot of soil from this line to the setting 
sun. This vast area was practically worthless. The 
Mormons proved it possible for some good thing to 



396 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

come out of Kazareth by r(3claiming arid spots about 
the confines of the great Salt Lake, and making them 
to bloom and bear as beautiful and generously as the 
Garden of Eden or the Yalley of the Nile. Still, until 
the results produced by California irrigationists, the 
majority of tlie acres comprised in the original Great 
American Desert were deemed fit only for the occupa- 
tion of coyotes, jack-rabbits and reptiles, and such 
human beings as could subsist upon these. Now the 
possibility of reclaiming these broad plains is recog- 
nized, and irrigation must be given the credit of making 
habitable as great an area as that which has been 
given over to civilization and Christianity, up to this 
date by the grand discovery made by Columbus. 

More than that. A tremendous acreage, in all the 
older States, had become barren, and had been turned 
out to recujierate by the slow processes of nature. The 
deeper the soil and the more thorough the tillage 
the less dependent is the husbandman upon water at 
the times when it most influences the fruiting of 
cereals, vines and trees. But in most of the land, in 
the Eastern and Southern States, the soil was never 
abundant, and the elements necessary for satisfactory 
returns have been drawn from the earth by planting it 
to the same things year m and year out. Exactly 
what there is in water to revive the land and increase 
its fertility is a mystery. When it is known why the 
same plat of ground will produce a sugar beet, a 
lemon, orange, and turpentine pine, it may be possible 
to formulate a theory approaching correctness. Ai 
present it is sufficient to know that irrigation, intelli 
gently applied, gives returns unknown where the 
sole dependence is upon precipitation from the clouds, 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 397 

no matter how regular and abundant that may be. 
That is proved by California experience as it has been 
nowhere else. The discovery of this fact, when and 
how to apply water, will make its way east. It will 
not travel as fast as did the blessings from the placer 
canyons and the gold-bearing mountains, but it will 
eventually enable the tobacco planters of Yirginia, the 
cotton planters of all the Southern States, and the 
sugar planter of Louisiana, to reckon with absolute 
certainty on a crop every year, instead of once in 
awhile as now ; because, from storage reservoirs, they 
will give their crops drink when it is necessary to 
vitality, and is withheld by the clouds. The same will 
be true of the fiekls, gardens and orchards in the East, 
and in the more fortunate Western States. Water is 
king, crowned by the California horticulturist and 
vineyardist, and will be introduced to all parts of 
America, and recognized as the most generous monarch 
the world has ever seen. 

One of the most important irrigation enterprises in 
the State is that of the Crocker-Huffman Land and 
Water Company, in Merced county, one hundred and 
fifty miles south of San Francisco. Merced is the 
largest town in the county, and the first house in the 
place was erected after the Southern Pacific railroad 
reached there on its way to Los Angeles in 1872. It 
has three prosperous banks, three influential newspa- 
pers, five well-supported churches, excellent schools, 
gas, and the finest water-works of any town in the 
State. The water is brought from Lake Yosemite in a 
sixteen inch pipe, and under such pressure that a 
stream of water can be thrown forty feet above the 
top of the highest house. It is in such abundant sup- 



398 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

ply that no resident will ever be stinted in its use. 
Merced is surrounded by the finest of fruit lands, and 
the varieties to which these are adapted comprise 
nearly all the deciduous and citrus fruits grown in the 
State. Add to these, walnuts, almonds, table, wine 
and raisin grapes, and every variety of small fruits and 
vegetables, and a fair estimate may be made of what 
the soil of Merced county is good for. No region in 
the State has a better reputation for producing 
immense crops of cereals. In most of the county wheat, 
barley and oats were grown without irrigation, though 
the annual rainfall does not average more than ten 
inches, sometimes reaching twenty inches during the 
year. But citrus and deciduous fruits required irriga- 
tion, and these are the great wealth and comfort 
producers which make it possible for a large family to 
subsist luxuriously on ten acres of California land, and 
begin to lay aside a nice surplus in the savings bank. 

As mentioned, the little city of Merced is a prospei* 
ous tribute to the community building influences of 
the Southern Pacific management. Two other towns 
in the county, Yolta and Los Banos, owe their exist- 
ence to the policy of the Southern Pacific Company of 
building branches and extensions ahead of, and as an 
inducement to, the formation of productive settlements. 
In many respects Merced county is to be envied, and 
in none more than in the fact that Col. Charles F. 
Crocker, vice-president of the Southern Pacific Com- 
pany, has large landed interests there. Colonel Crocker 
is a thorough railroad manager, and does not care to 
divide his energies on the details of other great enter- 
prises. But he appreciates the powerful effect rapidly 
growing and highly prosperous communities have upon 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 399 

the fortunes of a transportation company, and possesses 
that quality of a great general which enables him to 
select his aids with unmistaking judgment. Associat- 
ing with himself Mr. C. H. Huffman, long identified 
with land interests in Merced county, the plan was 
consummated for tapping the Merced river, and by 
means of one of the most complete and costly canals 
in the country, conveying an immense volume of water 
for tw^enty-seven miles to Yosemite lake, and there 
storing it for distribution as wanted to all the lands 
owned by the Crocker-Huffman Land and Water Com- 
pany. Over two millions of dollars were expended on 
this enterprise, and a constant supply of sufficient 
water to thoroughly irrigate nearly a million acres of 
land is assured. It is with the addition of plenty of 
surface water for irrigation that it is made possible for 
a thousand industrious people in California to live 
luxuriously on the products of their labor, where only 
one person could barely exist without. The grand dis- 
coverers of miracles in California have proved this 
wonderful fact, time and time again, during the last 
twenty years, and this is what the Crocker-Huffman 
Land and Water Company has accomplished in pros- 
perous and progressive Merced county. The Rotter- 
dam Colony, the British Colony, the El Capitan Colony, 
and other thriving and rapidly growing communities, 
are bearing marked testimony to the wisdom and 
patriotism which produces such philanthropic and 
remunerative works as this, and which have their 
counterparts, on a smaller scale, in every part of Cali- 
fornia. The owners of almost countless acres are 
becoming the direct benefactors of the race, and there 
are only a few in all the world who would deny them 



400 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

any part of the munificent reward which the great 
transformation returns to them. They are dispensing 
the "greatest good to the greatest number," and to do 
that has been the soulful aspiration of the best people 
who have imprinted their individuality on all the aares 
of the world. In this case it is said that more actual 
settlers purchased homes in the Crocker-Huffman Land 
and "Water Company Colony tracts during the last 
three months of 1892 than elsewhere in all the great 
and attractive San Joaquin valley. 

There is no question that the men deserving most 
credit are those who are doing most for the develop- 
ment of California, and it matters little to the general 
public if their efforts bring them great personal profit. 
We have been told that the man possessing more than 
640 acres of land, regardless of how he obtained it or 
what it cost him, should be taken to some secluded 
place and choked until he surrendered all in excess of a 
mile square. When it is remembered that ten acres in 
California fruits is ample for the support of a large 
fai':.ily in comfort, the position would seem to be well 
tr.ken. But there is much to be said on the other side. 
Several uentleraen in California count their acres bv 
the thousand, and some by the hundred thousand. 
Ver\' much of this land, without water, was poor 
property at tw^elve and a half cents an acre. It formed 
a poor sheep range for a portion of the year. A family 
could not have made a support on a thousand acres of 
it. With water, ten acres would be sufficient, and it 
would be worth, unimproved, from $50 to $300 an 
acre. No ordinary farmer would dare attempt the 
expense of bringing water from the mountains, even 
had he the monev, nor could a thousand small farmers 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 401 

agree upon a method by which water couid be fur- 
nished to each as wanted. The owner of a great 
ranch, thousands of square miles in extent, alone would 
be justified in undertaking such a work, and, as a matter 
of fact, the world is indebted to these great land 
owners for the results obtained from irrigation. Mil-, 
lions of dollars had to be expended before the lands in 
Fresno, Kern and Los Angeles, San Bernardino and 
San Diego counties could be expected to produce 
moderately, to say nothing of the immense quantities 
of raisins, oranges, lemons, olives, and other products 
which load the trains for the East, and are increasing 
in quantity every day. It was fortunate for California, 
and fortunate for the thousands who will find small, 
but prosperous homes there, that so much of these 
lands was in the hands of so few men. 

Take the San Gabriel valley as an Illustration. A 
few a years ago a considerable part of it passed into 
the hands of E. J. Baldwin, known the world over as a 
man who "can keep a hotel," and to Californians as 
enterprising and thorough in every thing he undertakes. 
He had purchased the Santa Anita, San Francisquito, 
La Merced. La Puente, Filipe Lugo, Potrero Grande, 
Cienega and Potrero Chico ranchos. These aggre- 
gated over 52,000 acres, and had no improvements of 
importance. In his usual thorough manner he com- 
menced to improve them. It would be interesting to 
follow him through the grand work. It is not neces- 
sary. Thousands upon thousands of trees were planted, 
miles of which were locust, poplar, mulberry, eucalyp- 
tus, pine and cedar, for shades along the broad ave- 
nues. These are now large trees, and most of them 
were started from the seed. A large area was planted 



403 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

to oranges, and then began the search for water. 
Large amounts were spent in boring for artesian water, 
and a number of flowing wells were obtained. A 
reservoir covering seven acres was built near the cot- 
tage of Santa Anita, and therein water was stored for 
distribution. This would hold a small amount com- 
pared with what would be needed on the whole body 
of land. Other reservoirs were constructed convenient 
to the lands they are to supply with water. Mr. 
Baldwin has an irrigation system of his own, and 
insists that it is more economical and in every way 
better than building costly dams across canyons in the 
mountains. Briefly, he would have the owner of a 
tract of land construct his own storage reservoir. It 
will not be a costly affair, and will be immensely more 
satisfactory to the owner than depending upon a 
water company and being compelled to take his water 
only when it suits their convenience. The reservoirs 
constructed by Mr. Baldwin are as perfect as human 
skill can make them. From there water is conveyed 
to all parts of the estate. The large number of artesian 
wells, generous as is their flow, would not furnish the 
supply necessary. High up the mountain side, on the 
edge of a canyon, tunnels were run into the rock until 
water was struck, and this is conveyed in iron pipes to 
the reservoirs, and makes the supply more than suffi- 
cient to irrigate all the lands at present under cultiva- 
tion. As none of it is conveyed in open flumes or 
ditches, the loss by evaporation is insignificant, and the 
waste is nominal. 

Borings have been made over other portions of the 
estate, and a certainty of water can be guaranteed on 
almost every acre. The Santa Anita home ranch, con- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 40S 

sisting of 4,000 acres, and including the race track and 
training ground for Baldwin's blooded horses, is not 
for sale. Several fortunes of good size have been 
expended in beautifj'ing that, and it is as lovely as a 
morning dream, and is possessed of every luxury and 
convenience. Some years ago, when the Santa Anita 
ranch was the only portion of the estate producing, Mr. 
Baldwin made an exhibit at the State agricultural 
fair, consisting of grape brandy, port wine, white 
wines and clarets from one to ten years old ; fourteen 
choice varieties of grapes, seven varieties of oranges, 
limes, lemons, pomegranates, Japanese persimmons, 
bananas,white and black figs, Hungarian prunes, plums, 
russet and Bartlett pears, nectarines, peaches, olives, 
hard and soft shell almonds, English walnuts, black 
walnuts, chestnuts, potatoes, asparagus and almost 
every variety of vegetables ; white and yellow corn, 
and the famous Egyptian corn ; four kinds of sugar 
cane, tobacco and Australian wheat, chevalier and 
common barley, white oats, rye, flax, hops, cotton, 
castor beans, and enough other products to show the 
soil was adapted to the growth of any article desired. 

In connection with the ranch is a gilt-edge dairy, 
and 150 cows — choice Devon and graded — are fed and 
milked. The dairy and stock ranch covers 8,650 acres 
and 4,000 head of cattle and 20,000 head of sheep are 
kept in stock. The latter are herded upon the hill-sides 
and on the fields after harvest. 

Mr. Baldwin is very proud of his thoroughbred 
racers, and every care is bestowed upon chem. Besides 
those which have made a record astonishing to racing 
men, thirty or forty colts are now in training, and some 
of them will prove record breakers. 



404 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

Mr. Baldwin has determined to do all lie can to 
enhance the reputation of California wines and brandies. 
The grapes grown for wine are the choicest, and those 
which have been proved by use. The products of his 
winery have an excellent name. He sells no brandy 
until it is five years old, and has in stock 140,000 
gallons made between 1874 and 1890. During that 
time he made about 20,000 gallons of choice wines of 
different varieties each year. Since 1889 no brandy 
has been distilled, and the output of wines has averaged 
100,000 gallons per 3^ear. 

The orange crop from these ranches is enormous, 
but none of it reaches the Eastern market. The entire 
product is sold in British Columbia and in the States 
and Territories on the Pacific coast. Some of the 
orange trees are near twenty years old, and are very 
prolific. In 1875 Mr. Baldwin paid $7.00 each for 
orange trees and the same kind can be had for 50 cents 
now. In 1891 he refused $1,500 per acre for a por- 
tion of his crop, the packer to take the oranges from 
the trees. He gathered them himself and netted over 
$1,800 per acre from the same trees. 

Corroborative of our statement that it was fortunate 
for the Nation and the people that the lands requiring 
irrigation were held in large bodies by men who had to 
supply them with water in self-defense, the fact that 
three thousand persons now subsist in comfort, and 
even luxury, on lands which were barren when Mr. 
Baldwin obtained their ownership, is in evidence. 
Furthermore he has about one hundred renters, and a 
small army of employes. The acreage of deciduous 
fruits has been greatly increased, and this year a packery 
and cannery will be added, to the other important 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 405 

industries at Arcadia, which owe their inception to the 
enterprise of E. J. Baldwin. 

Mr. H. A. Unruh, Arcadia, California, is the manager 
of the Baldwin estate. He is an ex -soldier, having 
enlisted from Indiana when sixteen years old, and 
spent nine months of the war in Libby and other 
prisons of the South. That did not discourage him 
from re-enlisting, and serving to the end of the war. 
In 1866 he came to California, and was in the service 
of the Central Pacific Railroad Company for some 
time. That proved an excellent training for the 
employment with Mr. Baldwin, in which he has been 
engaged since 1879, now having general supervision of 
his immense interests. At this time he is specially 
interested in placing industrious persons on the unim- 
proved lands of Mr, Baldwin, and upon terms most 
generous to the home-seeker, who is advised to take a 
receipt for the money paid for his passage to California, 
which will be received as cash in payment for lands. 
Four railroads traverse these lands, the Southern 
Pacific, Santa Fe, Rapid Transit and Terminal, the 
latter intending to continue to Salt Lake. The Santa 
Fe and Rapid Transit have stations at Arcadia, the 
location of the Oakwood hotel. 

Mr. Baldwin has been referred to as capable of 
" keeping a hotel." The Baldwin at San Francisco, the 
Tallac at Lake Tahoe, and the Oakwood, at Arcadia, 
were all constructed under his instructions, and are 
owned by him. Money has not been spared in improv- 
ing the natural advantages about the Tallac and Oak- 
wood, of which Mr, Lawrence is given the management. 
No point in Italy or Switzerland can surpass the 
scenery about Lake Tahoe in beauty and grandeur, and 



40b CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK'. 

everywhere but in California guests would never tire of 
the changing tints upon the mountains overlooking the 
San Gabriel valley. Besides the railroads named, a 
coach and four makes the round trip from Los Angeles 
to Oakwood every day, and many thousand, in the 
course of the year, take the trip, lunching at the Oak- 
wood with Mr. Lawrence. 

One of the first great irrigation ventures in Califor- 
nia was that consummated by the San Diego 
Land and Town Company, which owned the National 
rancho, Otay rancho, Chula Vista, National City town 
site, and other mesa and valley properties, constituting a 
body of land over 40,000 acres in extent. It was all 
adapted to irrigation, without which its wonderful fertil- 
ity would beexpended inthe projjagatiou of greasewood, 
sagebrush, and other unsightlv and worthless shrubbery. 
Water must be had. The company obtained water 
rio-hts on the Sweetwater river, so called through 
courtes}', as during the greatest portion of the year 
it was scarcely entitled to the name of rivulet. Here 
was constructed the Sweetwater dam, which has become 
familiar to most readers of the United States, and 
has been investigated by Government engineers, 
and very many others in California and other States 
and Territories in the arid region, who desired to take 
advantage of the splendid specimen of hydraulic 
engineering furnished by this admirable system. 

The Sweeterwater dam is unlike others in some 
important respects. The bottom of the river canyon 
was excavated to solid bedrock. From the foundation, 
which is forty-six feet thick, it is built of solid granite, 
laid in Portland cement, and is constructed as an arch, 
with the elliptic facing the great weight of water. 



CAUFORNIA COLD BOOK, 407 

The length of the wall at the base is seventy -six 
feet, and at the top. 396 feet, and the thickness at the 
top is twelve feet. The height from bedrock is ninety 
feet, and from the bed of the river, eighty feet. 
The granite walls of the canyons are immovable as 
the everlasting mountains, and the ends of the dam 
are cemented to these. A thousand times the weight 
of water pressing against this dam would only serve 
to strengthen it, and even now it has been frequently 
subjected to the pressure of over six billion gallons of 
water. It is a sample of engineering which reflects 
great credit on all concerned, and has brought the 
services of Mr. Jas. D. Schuyler into general demand 
as consulting engineer in other great irrigation works. 
Now the San Diego Land and Town Company have 
plenty of water to amply supply all their great acreage 
of mesa and valley lands. The effects produced in 
the last four years are simply wonderful Starting 
with the finest climate to be found in fortunate 
California, where the climate reduces the cost of 
subsistence fully one-half, and renders living a peren- 
neal joy. and with a soil which has been drawing every 
valuable element of fertUity from the dismtegrating 
rocks on the mountains for unnumbered ages, and with 
a location which is indeetl Chula Yista, meaning a 
" surpassingly beautiful view,'' with its background of 
mountains, and the cities of Xational City and San 
Diego, the placid bay. the peninsula of Coronado. 
ending in a vast perpetual bouquet of ever blooming 
beaaty, and the promontory of Point Loma to the 
front, it is not strange that orange, lemon and olive 
orchards are crowding each other throughout the whole 
extent. 



408 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

The company, whose main office is in the Mason 
building, at 70 Kilby street, Boston, have been most 
fortunate in the selection of managing officers at 
National City. The late Colonel W. C. Dickinson 
was as genial as the climate in which he lived, and his 
mantle has fallen upon a younger man, Mr. John E. 
Boal, who presents the charming attractions of the 
vast domain with the same intelligent clearness for 
which his predecessor was noted. 

This irrigation s^^stem has supplied the only 
iugredient lacking to make this section the most desir- 
able on earth. With seasons which are a perpetual 
Indian summer, water as pure and healthful as can be 
distilled from snow and ice, and soil whose fertility is 
unrivaled, the resident who would make complaint of 
his surroundings deserves no great blessing on earth or 
in heaven. 

There is no place in California where the effects of 
water have been as remarkable as at Redlands, at the 
upper end of Santa Ana valley. In 1885 this was a 
sheep ranch, somewhat remote from transportation, 
but most romantically situated Forty miles aAvay, 
and across a considerable range of mountains, it was 
practicable to build a reservoir which would store 
water sufficient to irrigate many times the twelve 
miles square contained in this district. There were no 
improvements here of consequence. Hill and valley 
were covered with sagebrush, greasewood and cactus. 
Tarantulas, centipedes and scorpions were abundant. 
Beyond the grandeur and beauty of the scenery, there 
was nothing specially attractive about the location. 
To-day several trains each way reach the city on tracks 
which have been laid by both the Southern Pacific and 



CALIFORXIA GOLD BOOK. 40* 

Santa Fe companies. Redlands has become a city of 
4,000 of the happiest and most contented people to be 
found anywhere. They have every lot, including the 
churchyards, planted to orange trees, and in February. 
1893, these were bending beneath the weight of ^olden 
fruit. There are two street railroads which convey 
persons to the high points overlooking the prosperous 
and picturesque valley, and the grand piles of brick 
and stone which constitute the business center of the 
compactly built city. The business of the post-office 
in 1888 Vas $1,868, and for 1892, something over 
$8,000. 

The hills — mountains' foothills — adjoining Redlands 
on the southeast are covered with bearing orchards of 
lemons and oranges, and in very many places the hill- 
sides are so steep that they required terracing before 
there was room on which to plant a tree. There are 
many points in California which bear testimony to 
what the railroads and water can do in the way of 
changing an unsightly waste into a bower of flowers 
and fruitfulness, but there are none where the progress 
and prosperity attending the use of these gifts of God 
are more marked than at Redlands — in less than seven 
years changed from a desert to a garden of beauty and 
golden wealth. 

Without water for irrigation there was no more 
unpromising desert in California than the upper end of 
Santa Ana valley. To be sure some water had been 
utilized from the Santa Ana river and Mill creek, but it 
was insufficient for even the partial reclamation of any 
great part of the thousands of acres tributary to Red 
lands. Then human courage and enterprise took a hand. 
The mountains to the north and east climb away 



410 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

toward the firmament, and the higher points of some of 
them are mantled perpetually with ice and snow. At 
some time before white prospectors took an interest in 
the San Bernardino range, a natural reservoir or lake 
existed high up in the mountains. How its walls 
became cleft, letting all its water discharge down 
through the canyons, is among the natural mysteries 
with which every California canyon abounds. How to 
repair the break and create a reservoir capable of 
storing several time as much water as the valley would 
require in the dryest season, was no mystery. To con- 
duct it to the numerous places where it would do most 
good was the problem. Courage, energ}^ and capital 
constitute a masterly triumvirate. These were enlisted, 
and on November 15, 1890, the Bear Valley Irriga- 
tion Company was organized with four million dollars 
capital. Six distributing reservoirs were constructed 
near where the water would be needed, antl from the 
great lake in the mountains the pure water is now 
conveyed to these reservoirs ; thence is carried to every 
owner of five, ten, twenty or more acres in the valley, 
"^lere are about 25,000 acres of fruit lands tributary to 
Redlands. But this Bear Yalley Irrigation Company 
does not intend to confine its life and wealth-giving 
power toEedlands. The Pacific railroad passes through 
Gorgona pass, and has a station called Brookside about 
two miles from the center of Redlands. Five miles 
bevond that, and across a considerable mountain, 
in the San Jacinto valley, is as fine a body of land as 
there is in the State. It is equal to anything at River- 
side, Redlands or in San Gabriel valley — that is, with 
water. As the Bear Yalley Irrigation Company owns 
over twenty thousand acres of the best of these lands. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 411 

self-defense required that some of its surplus water be 
carried to a section known as the Alessandro irrigation 
district. There are only about four thousand acres in 
the district not owned by the Bear Valley Irrigation 
Company. Most of the difficult engineering is accom- 
plished, the mountains tunneled, and very soon the 
water will be turned on to every tract in the district — 
that is, it will be ready to flow, as when and where 
desired. The experience of Redlands will be repeated, 
but on a quicker plane, because the Sunset trains of the 
Southei'n Pacific pass on one side, and the Santa Fe 
runs directly through the tract. Alessandro will not 
have Scipio Craig and his fast-running pen and press to 
record every mark of improvement ; but he is near 
enough to keep the outside world advised of the start- 
ing of street-car lines, organization of banks and 
building of churches, all of which will be incidents of 
Alessandro in the coming year. Next year it will be a 
city. Chas. W. Green, late of Murray Hill, New York 
City, is now the president of the Bear Valley Irriga 
tion Company. He has been identified with the 
interests of the company from the start, but at long 
range. How he must have appreciated the fertility of 
the soil and the miraculous power of water which 
could produce a city in the desert almost as quickly as 
Jonah's gourd came to maturity! And beautiful Red- 
lands must make no halt in her progress or Alessandro 
will pass her by. Irrigation has decreed it. 

In Fresno, Tulare and Kern counties, irrigation has 
worked wonders. The snows which bury the tops of 
the mountains to great depths in winter, and slowly 
turn to water during the summer, have been utilized 
for the use and enrichment of thousands. The hun- 



413 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

dreds of miles of canals, and thousands of miles of 
ditches, with which these counties are checkered, would 
never have been constructed by men of small capital. 
It required men of large means like J. B. Haggin, 
Lloyd Tevis, George Hearst, Dr. C. B. Perrin, Henry 
Miller, Judge W. F. Goad, Irwin C. Stump and others 
who deserve mention, who, as proprietors of great 
bodies of unproductive land, had to put water upon the 
fertile acres in self-defense. The transformation has been 
most wonderful, and God, water and the railroads, sup- 
plemented and accentuated by the enterprise and energy 
of patriotic men, has prepared these counties for the 
luxurious support of as many people as there are in 
the whole State of ISTew York, including her great 
cities. First, the underground rivers were tapped, and 
vast volumes of water answered the call, and an arid 
waste became clothed in luxuriant verdure and perpet- 
ual bloom. The artesian wells emphasized the neces- 
sity for water, and proved the unexcelled fertility of 
the soil. They accomplished something much 
greater. They convinced the great cattle kings, 
whose herds held dominion everywhere, that it was 
criminal to deny the use of these acres to horticultur- 
ists and vineyardists. The result was the canals and 
ditches, and the inauguration of the plan of small 
tracts, and the colonizing of the thrifty and industrious 
from the crowded centers of population in the East 
and in Europe. With scarcely an exception, all who 
have come have been benefited, and have proved fore- 
runners of others equally anxious to share in blessings 
which must be enjoyed before they can be credited or 
appreciated. Mr. Hughes, a land dealer in Fresno. 
D-ives his experience with purchasers, which goes far 



CALIFORXIA GOLD BOOK. 41^ 

to show the extraordinary prosperity which prevails. 
Up to 1893 he had sold 30,000 acres of land near 
Fresno, in ten, twenty and forty acre tracts. No first 
payment was required, but each purchaser bound him- 
self to plant a certain proportion of the tract to trees 
and vines in a given time. He foreclosed but four 
mortgages, and not a dozen gave uj) their purchase 
because of inability to comply with the terms. It is 
not usual to sell lands on credit, but this is probably a 
fair statement of the proportion of jmrchasers of lands 
with water in California, who default in payment from 
any cause. California ranchers borrow money some- 
times, but the cases where mortgages are foreclosed are 
ver}'- rare. 

The San Jacinto valley contains about 200,000 acres 
of \Qr'^^ rich land, lying partly in San Bernardino and 
partly in San Diego county. It is at an altitude of 
from 1,400 to 1,900 feet above sea-level, with about 
the proper incline to render it easily irrigated, and 
composed of such soil as would not bake after a thorough 
wetting. Experiment has proved it exactly adapted 
to the production of fine lemons, oranges, olives, peaches, 
apricots and raisins, and inferioi* to no portion of the 
State for Alfalfa and vegetables. 

The Jacinto valley is especially fortunate in its 
transportation facilities. The Santa Fe system has a 
line under the name of the Southern California which 
traverses the valley from end to end, with several 
branches. The Southern Pacific has a line near the 
upper end of the valley, and both companies are 
steadily extending their lines to every point where set- 
tlements of orchard ists and vineyardists are probable. 
This gives speedy and cheap connection with markets 



414 CAUI'OA'NIA GOLD BOOK. 

everywhere. A considerable portion of the valley 
produced fine crops of wheat and barley in seasons 
when there was an average rainfall, without irrigation ; 
but the crop was not certain. For profitable culture 
water was a necessity. The maximum value of the 
land for grain crops was $30 per acre without water, 
and that best adapted for fruit growing from $50 to 
$60. With a supply of water the minimum price would 
be $100 per acre for wholly unimproved lands. 

The Bear Valley Irrigation Company is interested in 
supplying water to the upper end of the San Jacinto 
Yalle}", and has completed its system for irrigating 
many thousands of acres in the Alessandro district. 
The Lake Hemet Water Company is now constructing 
what promises to be the highest dam in the world. 
The location selected was most favorable for the 
magnificent work. The canyon is about 5,000 feet 
above sea-level, and is onl}^ 80 feet wide at the bottom 
between immovable granite walls, and only 250 feet 
wide at the top. It is planned to run a dam 160 feet 
high, which is practicable, when the reservoir back of 
it will hold eleven billion gallons of water, and 
sufficient to thoroughly irrigate all the land in the 
valley which is not supplied by the Bear Yalley 
Irrigation Company. The work so far performed has 
been the best of its kind. First the bottom of the 
canyon was excavated by blasting until a smooth and 
solid bottom was obtained for the wall, to be 100 feet 
thick at the base. This was filled with granite blocks, 
weifi-hino; from five to fifteen tons, cemented together, 
until practically one unbroken stone. This solid base, 
equal to the unbroken granite upon which it 
rests, is carried up twelve feet, where the walls of the 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 415 

can3^on are eighty feet apart. From thence to the top 
the upper and lower faces of the dam are composed of 
layers of these immense granite blocks, and the interior 
is composed of granite blocks nearly as large, laid in 
concrete of washed sand and the best Portland cement, 
under the supervision of trained engineers, who have 
the benefit of the experience of J. D. Schuyler, the 
great engineer, who constructed the world-renowned 
Sweetwater dam, and who says of this: "When 
completed, it will unquestionably be, not only the 
highest, but the finest dam on the continent — strong, 
safe, solid, and secure for all ages." 

The labor-saving machinery, capable of handling 
granite blocks weighing thirty tons, was selected by 
Mr. E. L. May berry, manager of the company. 
Without the aid of such devices it would have been 
almost impossible to have constructed this great work, 
using such ponderous blocks of granite as are cemented 
into its wall. This irrigation system drains a water- 
shed of over 100 square miles of snow-clad mountain. 
It will cover YOO acres of land when filled, with an 
average depth of 65 feet. The water is as pure as can 
be derived from melted snow, and will be carried to 
dwellers in the valley under a 2,000 foot pressure, 
rendering it more available than a steam pump for 
sprinkling yards and suppressing conflagrations. 

It would be interesting to give a detailed description 
of all the many irrigation systems in the State. They 
are doing a wonderful work, and making the arid 
spots to laugh with the gladness of a superb benevo- 
lence. It has not been practicable to mention but few 
or give a detailed description of any. The windmills 
of the State, for which a propelling breeze may be 



4.16 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

safely counted upon a portion of every twenty-four 
hours in the year, are supplying water for irrigating 
many thousand acres of flower and vegetable gardens, 
orchards, and vineyards. Many persons are using 
pumps driven by gasoline engines to raise water to the 
mesas and hillsides where it is a necessity. Water is 
king in California, and his subjects bow down to him 
early and late, and use every conceivable means to 
obtain more intimate acquaintance with him. In 
many parts of the State there is no prospect that the 
supply of water will ever be in excess, and plans are 
being devised to make a little water go a great way, 
because upon the economical use of it depends the 
prosperity of the people. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ASFHALTDM. 

This valuable substance is found in many States of 
this Union, but not to an extent to render it of com- 
mercial importance outside of California. In several 
counties of California there are great quantities of 
what is known as bituminous rock or sand-stone, 
and which has been largely used in the construc- 
tion of sidew^alks, street pavements, cement for yard 
walks, and very many other purposes. It is found in 
abundant deposits in San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Los 
Angeles and Orange counties, and in deposits of vast 
extent in San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, 
Ventura and Kern counties. Very much of that 
found requires refining before it will justify shipment 
for long distances ; but the bulk of the known deposits 
will pay for refining, rendering it superior to that 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 417 

found elsewhere on the globe so far as known. Val de 
Travers in Switzerland, and the pitch Lake of Trinidad, 
West Indies, supply about all in use in Paris, London 
and Berlin, and most of that which has been used in 
the Eastern cities has been brought from Lake Trinidad. 
The demand for it is increasing rapidly. Engineers and 
contractors now acknowledge the superiority of this 
material for paving streets, alleys and sidewalks ; 
flooring warehouses, cellars, fruit canneries, barns and 
stables; and for lining reservoirs, flumes and ditches. 
It makes a superb lining for wells and cisterns, and is 
said to make an unequaled water-pipe or main by using 
heavy duck-cloth as a base or core. It does not impart 
any taste to water, and diseasegermsand vermin avoid 
it. As a coating for piles to be used in salt or other 
Avater use has proved it invaluable. There is no doubt 
that it will supplant hard rubber for many purposes, 
being much cheaper and possessing many other 
advantages. 

But it is on streets and roadways that it is going to 
prove most valuable. The wheelmen of America are 
great educators. They have not been long in the field, 
but in the short time they have been walking on 
wheels, they have done much to convince mankind that 
good roadways are as necessary and economical for 
farmers as for the dwellers in cities. They are enemies 
of the noisy, dusty, disease-germ generating cobble- 
stone, basalt block or any other kind of stone pavement; 
every argument used by them for clean, noiseless and 
healthy pavements is an argument in favor of the use 
of California asphalt for roadways, whether in city or 
country. 

It will seem strange to the reader that while Call- 



418 CALIFORXIA GOLD BOOK. 

fornia possesses more and better Asphalt than all the 
world besides, Buffalo, New York, and several other 
Eastern cities have more asphalt pavement than San 
Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego combined. It 
is another evidence that a " prophet is not without 
honor except in his own country." It is a condition 
of things which will not continue. Los Angeles has 
five miles of clean asphalt pavement ; San Diego a 
like amount, and San Francisco probably more than 
twice as much. Oakland has considerable of the best 
quality, and many smaller places have fine educating 
samples. These object lessons are producing an effect 
upon enterprising citizens, and causing them to support 
enthusiastically the efforts of such persistent advocates 
of noiseless and dustless pavements as Henry F. Wil- 
liams, of San Francisco, who has been battling against 
Silurian ism for more than twenty years, and almost 
single-handed. Day is breaking. If the doctors may 
insist that the streets must be closed in front of the 
house of a prominent or wealthy patient, men of 
moderate means may be excused for demanding that 
their sick ones shall be protected from the useless and 
dangerous clatter made by vehicles passing over 
unsightly cobble stones. The germ is working. 
Within five years the majority of the streets in San 
Francisco will be covered with clean, noiseless, sightly 
germ-proof sheet asphalt pavement, and two glorious 
results will be attained : San Francisco will not have a 
single fault, but will be the most delightful summer 
residence city in the world, and a valuable and abund- 
ant California product will receive recognition as God 
intended it should when He made it the most valuable 
paving substance in Nature. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 419 

The asphalt deposits in Kern county have been 
known to exist for many years. As far back as 
February 20, 1864, a company with a capital of 
$1,700,000, was organized to utilize the vast body of 
asphaltura known to exist on the western edge of the 
county. Crude machinery, want of experience, lack 
of transportation facilities, and other apparent causes, 
impeded exploitation, and this company practically 
ceased to exist. Other companies were organized, 
mainly with the object of boring for oil, and have 
severally spent considerable money, but have generally 
accomplished little more than to confirni the belief 
that the deposits were of great value. There are two 
important districts, known respectively as the Sunset 
and Buena Yista fields. The Sunset field lies at the 
foot of the San Emigdio range of mountains, and the 
asphalt mounds or deposits here cover upwards of five 
thousand acres. A number of wells have been bored 
for oil, and six are now producing the heavy black oil 
known as maltha, and which carries a heavy percent- 
age of very pure bitumen. The Buena Vista fields lie 
considerably north of the Sunset works, but at the foot 
of the same range of mountains. The asphalt mounds 
here cover over ten thousand acres of the surface, 
and the supply is known to be unlimited. The value 
of these deposits no man can safely estimate. It is 
into the hundreds of millions. No one will doubt this 
who "considers the great number of uses calling for this 
material above enumerated, and the rapidity with 
which new uses for it are discovered. 

The asphalt deposits in Kern county seem to be 
different from any others in the State. Those of 
greatest purity in Ventura county are practically per- 



430 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

pendicular true veins, of no great thickness, between 
granite or slate walls. The bituminous rock mines are 
not taken into consideration, because the percentage of 
fixed bitumen is small in them compared with the pro- 
duct from the Kern county mines. In the Buena 
Vista and Sunset fields the layers of asphaltum are 
horizontal. The appearance indicates that at some 
period liquid asphaltum, or maltha, was forced from 
the interior of the earth, and spread out in great vol- 
ume over the surface of the valley. In time the flow- 
ceased, and the body hardened by the evaporation of 
the volatile substance it contained. Then sand, grass, 
sagebrush and mountain debris must have accumulated 
upon the layer until nature was ready to produce 
another discharge of liquid asphaltum. How long the 
alternating action continued no one can tell, but borings 
in one place show that the alternating stratas are over 
300 feet deep, and there is no reason to suppose they 
may not extend to much greater depths. 

The manner in which these fields were formed is not 
wholly theoretical. In the Buena Vista district are 
two wells which may be properly called asphaltum 
geysers. These are situated on opposite sides of a 
gulch, and some 200 feet apart. One has a mouth 
about five feet across and the other about three feet in 
diameter. They are evidently connected underground. 
One is always resting while the other is in ebulition, 
and they " spell " each other thus : Natural gas forces 
its way up from below, and swells the top layer of 
liquid asphalt until it puffs up like a balloon, finally 
breaking and discharging a quantity of asphalt over 
the rim of the well. Then the surface will quiet down, 
and immediately the other well, 200 feet away, com- 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 421 

mences to inflate and finally brealis, and promptly the 
same performance is commenced at the other well. 
This alternating process goes on without rest, and the 
mounds are getting larger slowly but surely, and no 
one can doubt that in this manner the other mounds 
were builded. 

The development of this mine of wealth, and bring- 
ing into use the vast deposits, amounted to very little 
until the organization of the [Standard Asphalt Com- 
pany October 27, 1890. Solomon Jewett and H. A. 
Blodgett, bankers of Bakersfield, had meditated bring- 
ing the fine material to the notice of those having use 
for it, and at this time they associated with them 
Henry F. Williams, of San Francisco, and Sutherland 
Hutton and Louis Blankenhorn, of Los Angeles. 
These were men of affairs wlio had had great exper- 
ience in the oil fields of the State, and in the use of 
bituminous rock and asphalt as applied to paving 
purposes. These gentlemen compose the Standard 
Asphalt Company. The Soutliern Pacific Railroad 
Company was interested to the extent of building a 
line of road forty -eight miles to Asphalto, in the 
Buena Vista district, and nearly thirty miles of it must 
depend for support almost exclusively upon the pro- 
duct of the asphalt deposit. The company assumed 
no risks. With its own engineers the fields were 
carefully surveyed and the probable amount of freight 
they would supply was closely estimated. Upon the 
report made the line was rushed to completion, and 
solely as a safe business proposition. The railroad 
company have no interest in the Standard Asphalt 
Company beyond that of common carriers, who will 
have a monopoly of the business between the refining 



422 CALIFORNIA COLD BOOK. 

works at Asphalto and the outside world, wliich is 
becoming rapidly wedded to the belief that there is 
nothing in nature which can take the place of asphalt 
for roadways, sidewalks, the lining of cellars, reser- 
voirs, irrigation canals, and one thousand other uses 
for which its inestimable value is now recognized. As no 
one has ever accused the Southern Pacific management 
with wasting money by building permanently unprofit- 
able branches, it may be assumed that they know the 
extent and value of these deposits and the business 
ability of the men composing the Standard Asphalt 
Company. Without cheaper freighting facilities than 
the old-time burro or mule team there could be no hope 
of getting this high grade material into the hands of 
Eastern contractors at a price which would compel its 
use instead of the inferior article from the island of 
Trinidad. Much of the crude asphaltum mined at 
Asphalto is as rich in fixed bitumen as the refined 
Trinidad. When refined, as it is prepared for ship- 
ment, the Kern county product assays from eighty to 
nmety-five per cent, bitumen, and the refined Trinidad 
under sixty per cent. Large quantities of the refined 
article have been sent to market. One train of eleven 
cars was sent to Sedalia, Mo., in June, 1892, and much 
has been sent to Portland, Oregon, Kansas City, Salt 
Lake, Denver, and all the prominent towns and cities 
in California. This was all refined at the works in 
Sumner, near Bakersfield, and the crude material had 
to be hauled from the mine to that point, or more than 
thirty miles by mule team, and the possible profits 
were dissipated. There is not a doubt that the ener- 
getic members of the Standard Asphalt Company 
became very sensible of the true meaning of that oft- 



CALIFORNIA COLD BOOK. 423 

used sentence, " All that the traffic will bear." Nor is 
there a doubt that they are now blessing the policy of 
the Southern Pacific Company, which has become as 
fixed as fate and as common as lovely weather in CaL 
ifornia, of building a branch of their road to any point 
where there is a prospect of future business, and where 
railroad conveniences are likely to improve and settle 
up the waste lands of the State. The result in this 
case was that the road was completed in an unus- 
ually short time, and the mule teams have been dis- 
carded. Thousands of tons of the refined asphaltum 
will reach Eastern and European markets during the 
World's Fair year, and the purity and excellence of 
the article will prove a revelation to contractors, and 
will help to acquaint the world with the marvelous 
wonders of God blessed California. 

By extended experiment the customers of the 
Standard Asphalt Company have learned that the 
liquid maltha furnished by that company is superior to 
any other substance known for tempering the refined 
asphalt, and preparing it for use as pavement, roofing, 
cement or any other purpose for which it is adapted. 
The supply of liquid asphalt or maltha is believed to 
be unlimited. The explorations at Sunset and Buena 
Vista have extended over but a fraction of the territory 
known to contain the substance. The supply is far 
beyond the demand at this time, and future devefop- 
ments promise to keep it so. 

In the immediate vicinity of these great beds of 
asphaltum are several other deposits which will develop 
into mines of great wealth. There is one bank of 
kaolin, almost pure white, and carrying thirty-five per 
cent, of aluminum. Alongside of this is a vast deposit 



424 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

of nearly pure sulphur, mixed with scarcely any sand. 
When these, with flie minerals yet undiscovered, and 
which the region of volcanic formation promises to 
reveal are developed, the district will be greatly sought 
after by the curious as well as careful investors. The 
enterprise and State pride of the Southern Pacific 
Company has removed every obstacle in the way of 
thorough development of every interest, and whatever 
the earth thereabouts contains of value will be found. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE PRESS. 

One of the great instrumentalities for the spread 
of the gospel of progress and prosperity is 
the newspaper, and California has been specially 
fortunate in attracting large numbers of active 
and brainy men, who have given themselves to the 
work of earnestly and persistently aiding everj^ worthy 
enterprise. It is the help of these great engines of 
intellectual strength wliich has spread abroad descrip- 
tions of the wonders of California, until all reading- 
peoples are familiar with the loveliness of its climate, 
the fertility of its soil, and the picturesque beauty of 
mountain, canyon and valley. 

There are about nine hundred of these disseminators 
of information — daily, weekly and monthly — prepared 
and printed in the State of California. The}^ will rank 
with the best published in the oldest sections of the 
world, and very many of them are conducted, in whole 
or in part, by native sons and daughters of the Golden 
State. The first paper printed in California was issued 
at Monterey, then the capital of Alta California, in 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 425 

August, 1846, on Lype and })ress brought there from 
Mexico, oil which to print public documents. When 
Sam Brannan, then a Mormon, came from New York 
with his Mormon pioneers, he brought with him print- 
ing material, and issued tlie first number of the Cali- 
fornia Sta7\ January 7,1847, witli Dr. E. P. Jones as 
editor. On May 22d. of the same year, Robert Semple 
issued the first number of the California, as editor and 
proprietor, he using the material which had done dutv 
at Monterey the year before. These were weekly 
publications. Juan de la Rosa, the printer who brought 
the material to California, lived to the advanced age 
of 101 years, proving the healthfulness of the craft in 
California. 

Soon after tne discovery of gold was confirmed, the 
forces of both papers went to the mines, and no papers 
were issued until after the return of the editors, by 
which time there was no scarcity of practical printers 
in San Francisco. Both papers were revived, but 
were soon combined, and for a time appeared as the 
Star and California. These papers passed into the 
AUa California, with E. C. Kerable and R.C. Hubbard 
as editors. Soon the city became too metropolitan to 
be satisfied with news a week old, and the tri-weekly 
Alia California appeared. A month later it was a 
daily, and the next day appeared the Journal of Com- 
merce and the Pacific Neios, both being published 
daily. A long list of journals saw light apparently for 
the sole purpose of dying, though they doubtless 
planted principles which lasted longer than their lirief 
lives. Hh^ Alia California \\2i^ an unlucky name or 
an unfortunate beginning. It was burned out twice, 
and was at onetime owned by Pickering, Fitch & Com- 



426 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

pany, but in May, 1858, was purchased b}^ Fredeiick 
McCrellisli & Company, who published it until it finally 
succumbed for want of patronage in 1891. 

The Morning Call is the oldest morning paper 
printed in English in San Francisco. It was started by 
an association of printers. Their names were James J. 
Ayers, now of the Los Angeles Z)tr/!7y Herald \ Charles 
F. Jobson, David II. Ileggins, Llewellen Zublin and 
William L. Carpenter. It got its name in a peculiar 
way. After the force was organized there was a differ- 
ence of opinion as to the selection of a name which 
should prove a veritable mascot. It was decided to 
settle the matter by resorting to '• jefRng," — throwing 
from the hand five sc[uare pieces of ty[)e metal, techni- 
cally known as "em quads," with a nick on one side. 
As they were getting ready to settle the question in 
this primitive manner of casting lots, a bill poster stuck 
up a theatre program announcing the performance of a 
farce styled " Morning Call." That was instantly ami 
unanimously adopted, and the Moi'ning Gall has been 
a power ever since. The first number appeared in 
December, 1856. The whole outfit cost $130. George 
A. Barnes, as well and favorably known as any news- 
paper man on the coast, bought out Carpenter soon 
after, and Peter B. Foster jjurchased the interest of 
Zublin. A peculiarity of the proprietors was that each 
could fill any place about a morning paper, and they 
changed posts of duty every v eek, so that no one couUl 
complain that he was doing more than his share of 
work. When the Frazer river excitement began the 
paper developed into a gold mine for its proprietors, 
and large dividends were paid weekly. In 1866 the 
Call passed under the control of Messrs. Pickering, 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 427 

Fitch & Simonton, and Loring Pickering vras man- 
aging editor until his death soon after the presidential 
election of 1892. his constant labors during that cam- 
paign having hastened that event, George A. Barnes 
is still with the Call^ now as dramatic critic, and he 
has the warmest place in the regard of newspaper men 
and tlieatrical people. 

The San Francisco Chronicle was started on January 
27, 1865, as the Dramatic Chronicle^ being really a 
small-sized theater program, containing a limited 
number of free advertisements. It was a success from 
the start, and was the first local paper to print the news 
of the assassination of President Linc6ln, and appeared 
draped in deep mourning for a week thereafter. By 
July, it had a circulation of 6,000 copies. The Dramatic 
Chronicle had been started by Charles de Young. In 
September, 1866, M. H. de Young joined with his 
brother, and the firm name of the proprietors was 
Charles de Young & Company. The senior died April 
23, 3 880, since which time M. H. de Young has been 
sole owner and manager of the great metropolitan 
journal. It has always been enterprising, and has 
given, with the fullest details, all great events as they 
have transpired. It has been generally aggressive, 
attacking objectionable persons and principles with 
spirit and power, and lias made for its proprietor 
enemies as well as friends ; but in dealing witli questions 
of interest to all the people, and fostering enterprises 
proposed in the line of progress, the Chronicle has 
evinced unusual energy, and has performed an immense 
deal of good. It has become renowned for its big 
papers and mammoth editions, which are sent to all parts 
of the world bv the thousands. Its last annual, issued 



428 CALIfOKNIA GOLD BOOK. 

January 1, 1893, was a masterly paper, giving a detailed 
history of every corner of the State. Of its absolute 
correctness there could be no doubt, and very much of 
it was so exactly adapted to the purj)oses of the Cali- 
fornia Gold Book, and prepared with such care and 
literary ability, that it appears in these pages, after its 
facts had been verified by such careful investigation as 
left no room to doubt its historical value. It comprised 
a history of events, persons and economic enterprises, 
which left nothing out worthy of having a place in a 
standard history of California. John P. Young-, 
managing editor of the Chronicle^ is an experienced 
newspaper man. * His first training was received in the 
editorial room of John W. Forney's Washington 
Chronicle, and afterwards as the Washington cor- 
respondent of the Chicago Times. No better school 
can be found in any city, and he came from there a 
thoroughly trained editor, charged with a fund of 
information in regard to men and measures which have 
served to make him the most prominent and influential 
editorial writer on the Pacific coast. He is aided by 
a staff of true artists in their several departments, and 
the Chronicle is the equal in interest and influence of 
any of the Eastern journals. Mr. de Young, besides 
being president of the International League of Press 
Clubs, vice-president and California commissioner of 
the World's Fair, and performing the important duties 
required of the incumbent of each position ably and 
conscientiously, neglects none of the details of his own 
orreat business. Even his enemies admit that he has 
done more to forward the material interests of Cali 
fornia than any man in the State, and will continue to 
work in her interest so long as he lives. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 439 

The Examiner first sought public favor as an even- 
ing paper in June, 1865. W. S. Moss owned it, with 

B. F. Washington as managing editor. Its editorials 
manifested great ability. The late Senator George 
Hearst purchased it in October, 1870, and immediately 
changed it to a morning daily. It became a power at 
once, being democratic in politics. In 1887 the propri- 
etorship and management of the paper passed to W. 
R. Hearst. Young Hearst had just graduated from 
Harvard, having been thoroughly prepared for a course 
there by previous experience in the schools of San 
Francisco and a preparatory school at Concord, Conn. 
He entered upon the duties of managing editor with 
creditable ambition, and at once organized a staff of 
assistants and heads of departments which would have 
been unexpected in any but a trained journalist. Mr. 

C. M. Palmer, his business manager, was a pronounced 
success before Mr. Hearst obtained his services, A. B. 
Henderson, w^ho has charge of the editorial columns in 
the absence of Mr. Hearst, was thoroughh'^ trained on 
the editorial staff of the Chronicle. Readers every- 
where know of Ambrose Bierce, whose caustic pen 
very frequently raises a blister on the pride and self- 
esteem of ambitious pengraphers, if it causes them no 
other inconvenience. He enlivens the Sunday issue of 
the Examiner^ and is admired by even those he scores. 
All the writers on the Examvner please and interest iis 
army of readers, and in many of the startling enter- 
prises inaugurated by the Exaininer to gather sensa- 
tional news from the ends of the earth it has no 
superior in the world. The people of the country, not 
confined to San Francisco and CaHfornia, know that if 
there is spicy news or exciting incident originating 



430 CALIFOKNIA GOLD BOOK. 

anywhere some of its corps of reporters or cororrespond- 
ents will prepare it for the readers of that paper. 

The oldest daily paper on the coast is the California 
Demokrat, a German paper founded in 1853, by Dr. 
Von Loehr. In 1858 Frederick Haas purchased it, but 
continued Dr. Von Loehr as editor till his death, in 
1877, when Mr. Gruenblatt was placed in charge as 
managing editor, and has continued in the position 
ever since. The Demokrat is influential and successful. 
Another German paper is the Ahend-Fost, which began 
as a dail\' in 1859. Since it has been under the man- 
agement of Adolpb, Charles and Leon Samuels it has 
attained great influence. There are 185,000 persons of 
German birth in California, and 60,000 in San Fran- 
cisco, a magnificent number to whom to look for 
support for a paper in their own language. 

The Evening Bulletin was first published Oct. 8, 
1855. It took the side of the people in a vigorous 
manner, and w^as a success from the start. Its first 
editor, James King, was murdered by a desperado for 
exposing his crimes. He was succeeded by his brother, 
Thomas S. King. In June, 1859, Geo. K. Fitch bought 
an interest in the paper, and soon after Loring Picker- 
ing secured enough to give them full control, which 
they have since held. Mr. Fitch has been managing 
editor. The paper has ever had a reputation for 
cleanness and ability, and its clientage is among the 
most cultured and wealthy persons in California. 

ThQ Evening Post \^ one of the brightest and most 
enterprising evening papers in existence. It was 
started in 1871 by a few newspaper men as an experi- 
ment. The Post became the property of George 
Heazelton in 1889, and he has made it a financial and 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 431 

influential success. Mr. Heazelton was an experienced 
newspaper writer before purchasing the Post. He had 
graduated on the Chronicle as reporter, news editor, 
and Washington correspondent, and was fully equipped 
for efficient newspaper work. 

The Dalhj Evenhuj Rcjyort has been published since 
1863, first as a weekly and later as a noon daily, to 
give the mining and stock board reports. In 1875 it 
was purchased by "Wm. M. Bunker, who had previously 
been on the Bulletin as an editorial writer for eleven 
years. He was born with an editorial quill in his 
fingers — metaphorically — his father and his grand- 
father both having been editors. In 1877 Mr. Bunker 
sold Mr. A. C. Heister an interest in the paper, and he 
was given in charge the business management. Mr. 
Heister was a newspaper man of experience before he 
became associated with Mr. Bunker ; between them 
they have built up a valuable property and have made 
an influential newspaper. 

The Journal of Commerce is devoted to the business 
interests of San Francisco. James O'Leary is editor, and 
is probably the best posted statistician and economist 
in the city. The paper was established in 1872 and has 
had varying fortunes, being on the top wave when all 
kinds of business was prosperous, and contesting for 
life with the fates when business was slack. A. F. 
Chapman is business manager. 

The M'lmng and Scientifc Press is now in its forty- 
sixth volume, and nearly from its inception it has been 
under the editorial management of W. B. Ewer, its 
present managing editor. In 1847 Mr. Ewer was 
employed on the Superior Mining Journal, published 
in Boston, and owned by the brother of Elias Howe, 



432 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

the sewing machine inventor. There was at the time 
considerable excitement over the copper discoveries in 
the Lake Superior region, and while that was domi- 
nant came news of the discovery of gold in California. 
Mr. Ewer made immediate preparations for going 
across the plains to the gold fields, intending to prose- 
cute quartz mining. The late Loring Pickering was a 
companion on the journey, and October 9, 1849, the 
company arrived at Lawson's ranch, now the Vina 
vineyard, belonging to the Leland Stanford Junior 
University. Pickering went to Long's Bar and engaged 
in merchandising, but not long after bought an interest 
in the Placer T'lincH and Trun.^cfqtt in connection with 
a Mr, Lawrence. 

In 1851 Mr. Ewer started the Nevada Democrat,, and 
in 1856 the Mi/iing Journal at Grass Yalley, which was 
the first exclusively mining sheet in California. The 
Mining Press was started in San Francisco in May, 
1860, by Julius Silversmith, and was changed to the 
Mining and ScientiJiG Press November 30th of the 
same year. The character and ability displayed by 
Mr. Ewer induced Silversmith to offer him the editorial 
management of his paper. This offer was peremptor- 
ily declined unless he was allowed to purchase an 
interest in the paper. Negotiations ended in W. B. 
Ewer becoming editor and proprietor of this mining- 
paper November 8, 1862, Later T. W. Dewey pur- 
chased an interest and became business manager. The 
Mining and Scientific Press has had great influence 
with mining men during all the years of its existence. 
Its information has always been reliable, and its editor 
has had no interest in any schemes, and has advocated 
the interests of legitimate mining. Not once has it 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK 438 

made a mistake in regard to the worth of a mining 
camp, and its advice has been wise and for the benefit 
of investors. It has never been connected with stock 
deals. For several jears Mr. Ewer has had as assistant 
editor Mr. Chas. G. Yale, a careful writer. 

There are nearly one hundred weekly and monthly 
publications in San Francisco, and these generally have 
the appearance of being well sustained. The Argonaut^ 
edited by Frank M. Pixley, is probably the best piece 
of property among them, and there are very many 
who assert that this is because it deserves to be. It is 
excellent from a literary standpoint. The Ne ins Let- 
ter, Wave, Wasj}, and several others, liold high rank. 

Among the magazines, the Overland \^ the oldest, and 
the latest and spiciest is the CaUfornian Illustrated 
Magazine. Both these periodicals enlist the services 
of the best intellects on the coast, and are very popular 
with the reading public. California is inaugurating a 
new class of light literature, and not all of the writers 
developed have deserted the coast as did " Mark T w^in " 
and Bret liarte. Joaquin Miller was glad to return 
to this genial climate when surfeited with the plaudits 
of Eastern admirers, and most likely the others will 
hasten back to extend their lease of life. 

Oakland supports three sparkling daily papers, the 
Enquirer, edited by Frank A. Leach ; the Times, edited 
by Frank J. Moffitt, and the Trihune, edited by W. E. 
Dargfe. Like the papers elsewhere in California, these 
are proud of the locality in which they are published, 
and loyal to its interests. Illustrated editions are 
frequent, and no information which can benefit Oak- 
land or California is permitted to rust for lack of tell- 
ing:. It is thus that the outside world is made 



434 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

acquainted with the marvelous beauties and advanta- 
geous possibilities of the place, so that those who are 
attracted to Oakland by the newspaper photograph 
will recognize the place at once, and feel perfectly at 
home on their arrival. 

The postal officials are aware that many times as 
many newspapers go from California to other parts of 
the world, as enter California from abroad. IS'othing 
has had more to do with exciting and keeping alive an 
interest in the wonderful State and its more wonder- 
ful progress. The local paper is a transcript of events 
happening in its own vicinity, a business directory and 
a health report, and one that can be relied on as abso- 
lutely correct. The resident of California may send 
back personal letters, but they will be deemed partial 
and interested, while the local newspaper will be 
accredited as an impartial historian, with no private 
ends to serve. The people of California have learned 
this valuable lesson, and^when their paper has been 
perused, mail it to some one abroad who will be glad 
to read of California. There is not an issue of any 
paper published in the State which may not be sent 
out as a messenger of glad tidings to those whose lines 
have not been cast in the pleasant places which cover 
and encircle all the glorious Golden State. 

The Pacific Coast Women's Press Association is one 
of the most efficient instrumentalities for spreading 
throughout the East and Europe the wonderful attrac- 
tions and inestimable advantages of California. It is 
composed of the brainest and most cultured women on 
the coast, who were united in the association b}^ the 
great and influential executive ability and rare tact of 
Mrs. Nellie Blessing Eyster and the lamented Emelie 






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CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 435 

T. Y. Parkhurst, whose early decease was an irrepar- 
able loss to society and literature. The members of 
the association are indefatigable workers, and very 
much that flows from their pens is descriptive letters 
teeming with pen photographs of the delights of life in 
California. Wherever they go they are in demand, as 
Eastern people never tire of tlie inexhaustible wonders 
of the gorgeous land under the setting sun. They are 
a power, too, in the communities in which they reside, 
and to them and their female friends is due the high 
standard of culture, refinement and true womanhood 
which is everywhere apparent on the Pacific coast. On 
the rostrum and with the pen Mrs. Eyster is a prophet 
who is most honored in her own country, where her 
rare eloquence and worth are best known and most 
highly appreciated. 



CHAPTER XX. 

fireman's fund insurance company. 

This is the oldest and most popular local insur- 
ance company on the Pacific coast. It was 
organized May 1, 1863, with a capital of $200,000. 
Three increases have been made since. In 1865 the 
capital was increased to $500,000; in 1880 to $750,000, 
and in 1886 to $1,000,000. The splendid management 
of the company is best shown by the fact that the 
privilege of subscribing to the stock at the last increase 
commanded a premium of thirty to forty per cent. 
The stability of the company has been tried "as by 
fire" on several occasions, notablv by the immense 
losses sustained when Chicago was practically swept 
from the earth, and a little later by the memorable fire 



436 CALI-RORNIA GOLD BOOK. 

at Boston. The losses by the Chicago fire aggregated 
a greater sum than the capital stock of the company at 
that time, and b}' the Boston fire were immense 
considering the distance of the company from the 
scene of devastation. Besides, a good many destruc- 
tive fires have taken place on the coast, where the 
company is most popular ; but the managers and stock- 
holders have alwa3^s proved equal to the emergency, 
and have satisfied every loss in full, and without 
calling for outside aid. Since its organization the 
company has received over twenty-three millions of 
dollars in premiums and has paid losses aggregating 
over twelve million dollars. For the year 1892 the 
income was $1,886,183, and the expenditures $1,703,- 
340. The cash assets amounted to $3,037,706, and 
after providing for every possible liability, including 
$1,000,000 capital paid in gold coin, it has a net 
surplus of $680,974. 

The San Francisco officers are : I). J. Staples, presi- 
dent ; W. J. Dutton, vice-president ; B. Faymonville, 
secretary, and J. B. Levison, marine secretary. The 
central department is at 157 and 159 La Salle street, 
Chicago, with Thomas S. Chard as manager. The 
Eastern department is in the Mason building, Boston, 
with Charles W. Kellogg manager. The home office 
is in the company's magnificent building, corner of Cal- 
ifornia and Sansome streets, and where its foundations 
are laid vessels unloaded in 1849, it being almost upon 
the old-time shofe line of the bay of San Francisco. 

Vice-President Dutton is one of the ablest and most 
popular insurance experts on the Pacific coast. He 
organized the Marine Department of the Fireman's 
Fund a ({uarter of a centurv ago, and was the marin'^ 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 437 

secretary until promoted. His successor was selected 
because of his rare fitness for the position, as have been 
all the other officers and representatives of this com- 
pany. 

As the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, through 
its officers, is a direct connecting link between the 
Argonaut era and to-day, a brief sketch of its president, 
David Jackson Staples, will prove historically interest- 
ing. One of his ancestors fought in King Phillip's war 
in 1660, and D. J. Staples, was born at Medway, Mass., 
May 3, 1824. At 11 years of age he commenced 
service in a cotton mill, and at 19 commenced learning 
the trade of machinist and locomotive builder at Taun- 
ton, Mass. In 1848 he married Mary Pratt Winslow, 
a descendant of Colonial Governor Winslow of Con- 
necticut. That winter, in copartnership with twenty- 
four others, he bought the bark Helen Augusta, and 
loaded her with such merchandise as was believed 
would be needed in the California market, and started 
her for San Francisco. 

The owners came across the plains in the following 
year, arriving at Sacramento September 27, 1849. The 
vessel was already in port. The goods proved to be 
in demand, and were sold off at a profit, when the 
company disbanded. Mr. Staples gave mining a brief 
trial. About this time he purchased a large tract of 
land on the Mokelumne river. This he improved, 
paying $700 per 1,000 feet for the lumber with which 
his house was constructed. He planted a crop of wheat, 
and went East for Mrs. Staples, arriving with her at 
the new home on the coast in 1851. 

Mr. Staples was a delegate to the Chicago conven- 
tion in 186(»j and sujiported the candidacy of Mi". 



438 CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOIC. 

Lincoln, and became acquainted with him there. He 
was at his inauguration in 1861, and remained in 
Washington until the war was under way. When 
Sumter was fired upon, and the rebel element in 
Washington City was wild with excitement, and the 
life of the Nation hung by a thread, Mr. Staples, 
with three hundred others, formed the Cassius M. Clay 
battalion, and entered instantly upon the dangerous 
duty of guarding the Capitol. Day and night these 
gallant men were at their posts, until the hosts from 
the North came to the relief of the President. Then 
President Lincoln advised Mr. Staples to return to 
California, where the services of loyal adherents of the 
Union were more in demand than anywhere else in the 
country, and he reluctantly accepted his discharge, 
accompanied by a certificate from Secretary Cameron, 
endorsed by Mr. Lincoln, detailing the untiring manner 
in which he had performed his duty as guard while 
the Nation was in greater peril than at any other time 
during the whole war. No wonder that the Geo. H. 
Thomas Post, Grand Army of the Eepublic, considers 
itself honored by the membership of D. J. Staples. lie 
was an original volunteer, enlisting even before a call 
had been made by the President. 

The Board of Underwriters of San Francisco is com- 
posed of the best and most influential citizens. It 
contains the representatives of the principal local, 
Eastern and foreign insurance companies doing business 
west of the Rocky mountains. Through its efforts 
great good has been accomplished, and to it is due 
much of the wonderful efficiency of the San Francisco 
Fire Department, Vv^hich makes a destructive fire next 
to impossible. For seventeen consecutive years Mr. 



CALIFORNIA GOLD BOOK. 439 

Sta}3les has been president of the Board of Under- 
writers. 

The foregoing facts and figures explain in part the 
rapidly increasing popularity of the Fireman's Fund 
Insurance Company with that class which seeks and 
patronizes the safest and best, not alone on this coast, 
but in the large cities of the East. The further reason 
is the exact adaptability of the several officials to 
recommend everything they have in hand, and to 
encourage confidence by strictly deserving it. The 
Fireman's Fund Insurance Company will expand as 
rapidly as does the business and importance of San 
Francisco. 



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